
PRESENTED BY 



N 



THE BREAT WEST 

A VAST EMPIRE. 

COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF THE TRAXS- 
MISSISSIPPI STATES AND TERRITORIES. 



CONTAINING DETAILED STATISTICS AND OTHER INFOEMATION 

IN SUPPORT OF THE MOVEMENT FOR DEEP HARBORS 

ON THE TEXAS-GULF COAST. 



HYyr- 

F. L. ''DANA. 



SECRETARY OF THE INTER-STATE DEEP HARBOR COMMITTEE AND EDITOR OF THE 
COLORADO EXCH.\NGE JOURNAL. 



25712 



^^W 



DE^VER, COLORADO:*.^,* 

ExcELsiox^ Printing Company. 



« 



1889. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year ISHi), hi/ F. L. Dana, 
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



P. 

^*?*« Qeol.S'r, 

2IJ|'03 



Ver:/ tr-aly j/ou 



rs 



|Ho^ 




DEDICATION. 



This work is respectfully dedicated to the Inter-State Deep 
PIarl)or movement; to the Prairie Schooner Pilots and Pioneers, who 
discovered a new America; to the Promoters of this Yast Western 
Empire; and to the "Star of Empire'' which has "westward had its 
way," until it has paused, never to renew its journey, (there is no 
other West). It stands fixed, perched upon the crown of the 
Mighty Monarch of the Kockies — Pike's Peak — the geograpliical 
center of the Great West. The Star shines with added lustre, as if 
happy to find its perpetual resting spot; its brilliancy encouraging 
the toiling millions of the West to persevere in the Avork of 
"building an Empire," (Gov. Gilpin's familiar expression early in 
the '60's), and here will it shine until the Great West shall become 
the center of the world's supply of breadstuffs. meats, cotton and 
woolen fibre, gold, silver, copper, zinc, tin, lead, iron, coal, oil and 



liuildino; material. 




rr 



THE BREAT WEST." 

PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE 

GEE AT WEST PUBLISHING COMPANY, 



F. L. DANA, Editor. 



Price Fifty Cents Per Number; Six Dollars Per Annum — Cash in Advance. 

Advertising Rates Furnished on Application to the Puhlisliers. 

J. W. Nevatt, Manager Publishing Department. 

August, 1889. Denver, Colorado. Part Third. 

IN presenting this the third edition of The Great West to our readers, we do so 
with a marked degree of pride. We are proud of our success with the first 
two numbers; we are proud of the multitudinous press opinions that our first 
effort brought forth; we are proud of this issue, which contains a graphic descrip- 
tion of Pueblo, Colo., the " Pittsburg of the West," a city in which every citizen of 
Colorado takes pride. Likewise do we devote considerable space to Canon City 
and Monte Vista, Colo., two enterprising, progressive cities, that are destined to be 
a power in this our magnificent commonwealth. In connection with Monte Vista, 
we publish an original poem by Mrs. Clara Troth, to whom we acknowledge our 
indebtedness, etc.; it is a brilliant production, and worthy a place in the annals of 
that charming valley of which Monte Vista is the capital. 

OUR next number. 

The fourth edition of this work will contain a complete history of Kansas and 
descriptions of several of her wonderful cities, and will be dedicated to the Deep 
Harbor Convention, which assembles in Topeka October 1st next. 

deep harbor engineers. 

The Inter-State Deep Harbor Committee has succeeeed in getting a board of 
United States engineers appointed to survey the Texas-Gulf coast, with a view of 
reporting to the next session of Congress the most feasible point on that coast to 
construct a deep harbor. The engineers are 'now on the coast, and have visited 
nearly all of the prospective harbor sites, and will be able to report to Congress, 
even if called in extra session in October next. Their report will form a basis upon 
which the Inter-State Deep Harbor Committee will work during the coming 
winter, to have Congress appropriate sufficient money to accomplish the work in 
the shortest possible time, let the report favor whichsoever part it may. ~ Since our 



# 



6 The Great AVest, 

last number an Inter-State Convention has been arranged for, to assemble at 
Topeka, Kansas, at 4 o'clock p. m., of the 1st day of October next. The basis of 
representation is such as to ensure an extraordinary convention, composed of the 
most representative politicians and business men west of the Mississippi River, and 
is as follows: 

APPORTIONMENT. 

The following are hereby designated as delegates to the Inter-State Deep 
Harbor Convention, to be held at Topeka, Kansas, October 1, 1889, and are all 
earnestly requested to attend: 

The Governor of each State and Territory west of the Mississippi River, who 
shall be authorized to make all appointments from his State or Territory hereby 
designated not otherwise selected. 

Four delegates at large from each State, two of whom shall be its United 
States Senators. 

Pour delegates from each Congressional district, one of whom shall be the 
member of Congress or Territorial Delegate-elect. 

The Republic of Mexico shall be entitled to Ave delegates, to be appointed by 
the President thereof, who is also earnestly invited to head the delegation. 

The president of each Chamber of Commerce or Board of Trade west of the 
Mississifpi River, who is authorized to appoint an alternate if he is unable to attend. 

It is earnestly requested that all members of the Permanent Inter-State Deep 
Harbor Committee, and including the secretary, will attend the convention and 
participate in its deliberations. 

All correspondence in relation to the convention should be addressed to P. L. 
Dana, secretary, Topeka, Kansas. 

In behalf of the Permanent Inter-State Deep Harbor Committee. 

P. L. Dana, Secretary. Jonh Evans, President. 

The Governor of Kansas, Lyman M. Humphrey, issued his proclamation, upon 
the invitation of the Permanent Inter-State Deep Harbor Convention, calling the 
convention together, and has written each of the several governors west of the 
Mississippi to be present at the convention. Topeka is making elaborate prepara- 
tions to entertain the delegates, and will not leave one stone unturned to make of 
this the second Inter-State Deep Harbor Convention one of the greatest that ever 
assembled in the West. The Kansas corn and wheap crop this year is "simply 
immense." Of corn, 250,000,000 bushels; of wheat, 32,000.000 bushels: surplus 
corn, 150,000,000 bushels: surplus wheat, 25,000,000 bushels; surplus cattle, 8CK).000 
head, or 1,.")00,000 tons; surplus pork, 1,000,000 head, or 100,000 tons; surplus of corn, 
wheat, cattle and pork, 5,200.000 tons. With a Gulf port as is proposed, Kansas 
would save S1.88 per ton of surplus, which amounts to S25,37G,000 per annum. 
That accounts for the extraordinary interest displayed in that state toward the 
movement. 




INDEX. 



Page 

Chapter I. The Great West 9 

Chapter II. Lousiana 13 

Chapter III. Missouri 15 

Chapter IV. Arkansas 1" 

Chapter V. Iowa 19 

Chapter VI. TexfiB 26 

Chapter VII. California 34 

Chapter VIII. Minnesota 39 

Chapter IX. Oregon 42 

Chapter X. Kansas 45 

Chapter XI. Nevada 49 

Chapter XII. Nebraska 51 

Caapter XIII. Colorado 54 

Chapter XIV. Pueblo 83 

Arkansas Valley 88 

Climate 89 

Health Attractions 91 

Coal and Oil 92 

Railroad Advantages 94 

Pueblo Buildings , 97 

Pueblo Banks and Banking 98 

The First National h ank 98 

Stockgrowers' National Bank 99 

Western National Bank 99 

Manufactures 100 

Colorado Coal and Iron Company 100 

Smelters 101 

Pueblo Street Railvi^ay 103 

Business Conveniences 103 

Schools 104 

Lioretto Academy 106 

Social Life in Pueblo 107 

Pueblo City Government 108 

Andrew A. Grome 110 

T. S. Smythe Ill 

W. P. Gartley HI 

A. T. Stewart HI 

George F. West HI 

J. H. Elspass 112 

Charles H. Larakin 112 

Thomas P. Lloyd 112 

Hotels 113 

Pueblo Journals 113 

The Chieftain 115 

The Daily Pueblo Press 115 

Manufactories and Business Firms 117 

Monte Vista 121 

Poem by Clara Troth 124 

Canon City 126 

Chapter XV. Utah ' 129 

Delegate Cain, on Irrigation 131 



# 



^ The Geeat "West. 

Chapter XVI. New Mexico ^^o^- 

ChapterXVIL Washington ff? 

Chapter XVIII. Dakota |t- 

Chaptek XIX. Idaho '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.]'.'..[ I47 

" XX. Arizona , -r> 

II XXI. Montana '.'■'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'..'.'. 150 

XXII. Wyoming t -7 

" XXIII. Alaska t- 

XXIV. Oklahoma '■'■'.'.''.'■'■'.'.' 1'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. I60 

INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Wharf Scene, Galveston oi 

Fishing on the Rio Grande ^o 

Long's Peak " .ip 

Entering Boulder Canon '. ' ei 

Central Block, Pueblo oa 

Fremont Pass [ ' '' ^* 

Colorado Smelting Company, Pueblo. . . too 

Central High School, Pueblo T^T 

Hinsdale High School, " '.'.'.'.'.'.'. in* 

Loretto Academy, " jx2 

Pueblo Citv Hail |Xq 

Daily Chieftain Building .'..'.'.'.'."."." JU 

Residence of J. J. Lambert 77^ 

Wilson & Barnard t\^ 

Bird's Eye View of Salida tT^'f. 

The Hotel Blanca, Monte Vista.. . Too 

Toitec Gorge ::'.:::.::::::: hi 

Mount of the Holy Cross.... 1^2 

Mother Grundy '■■;■; j^' 

Round-Up Scene in New Mexico ...............!...!..! I39 

INDEX TO APPENDIX. 

A summing up of the Resources and Possibilities of the Great West : 

Food Production and Distribution, (table) Tv 

Export and Surplus, (table) v)r 

Distance, (table) , " X 

Distance, (table) ".^....^^.....[^^...... VT 

Inter-State Deep Harbor Convention .......!.!." tv 

Committee of Arrangements v 

Governor Adams' Address .."..!."...!!!!! v 

Convention Resolutions XTT 

Permanent Committees '....!..!....!!..! XTV 

Commercial Congress ,,... vjv 

Irrigation Reservoirs and Duty of Water, bv theSt'ate Eng'ineer.'.'.".'.'."."!'.".'.' ^XV 

Duty of Water ^ :^Y 

Major Powel's Report ...............]^. XXT 

Measurmg Flow of Water, fillustration) ...'.'.'.. XXTTT 

Opennigthe Ditches, (illustrated) XXV 

Burlington .t Mi.ssouri River Railway XXV1TT 

Flume in Main Canal, (illustratedl ..".. XYTY 

Mileage and Traflic of the Great West XXX 

St. Louis it San Francisco Railway vvvt 

Northern PaciHc Railway .' .'.'.'.'.".'."."""" XXXT 

Chicago ;t North western'Rail way ........!!!."...!!.!..!!"!!.""! XJOQI 




THE BREAT WEST. 



CHAPTER I. 

A k/HAT is the " Great West V It is not " Buffalo Bill's Wild 
»^V West," as is generally supposed in the East and in England. 
It is all of that portion of the United States lying west of the Missis- 
sippi Eiver, and is usually understood to include Illinois and Wis- 
consin. Without the last two States, it comprises in area nearly two- 
thirds of the United States of America, and nearly one-third of the 
present population of the United States. 

In wealth the great West is nearly equal to one-half of the entire 
United States; in natural resources it is equal to its area — two-thirds 
of the natural resources of the Union. Contrary to all heretofore 
published authorities, barring Dr. Strong in his work entitled " Our 
Country," the Great West is capable of sustaining a population in 
proportion to its vast area, and will ere many years dominate the 
Union. Its political, its financial and its social features — the significance 
of which is growing upon the civilized world, is having the effect that 
will bring about, within a few years, the greatest political revolution 
the world ever witnessed. 

Ten or twenty years will probably witness the West in control of 
the government. The West has been accustomed to have its wishes, 
and demands for justice in the apportionment of appropriations disre- 
garded,^ its financial interests forced into Wall Street, and represen- 
tation in national affairs denied. That is gradually being changed. 
The East is slowly relaxing its severe discipline of the West; the 
citizens of that division begin to feel the public pulse beating time 
to the onward march of progress, and in truth very soon will we 
realize that "Westward the Star of Empire hath its sway." 

Tliis mighty empire is well defined — the Mississippi river on 
the east, the Pacific ocean on the west, the Gulf of Mexico and the 
Mexican Republic on the south, and the British possessions on the 
north; and if the signs of the times be true, the northern boundary 
will ere long Idb the Arctic ocean and the southern line the Panama 
canal. 

Erastus Wiman, of R. G. Dun & Co., has a communication in 
the January, 1889, number of the I^orth American Review, upon the 
» Greater Half of the Continent." Referring to Canada, he attempts 



« 



10 The Great West. 

to justify commercial union, and at tlie same time combat political 
union between the United States and that British province. We 
commend the spirit of union, but believe it should be both political 
and commercial, agi'eeing with that eminent American statesman, 
John Sherman. The greater half of the continent lies west of that 
line of demarcation M'hich is genei-ally applied when speaking of the 
Eastern or Western States of the Union, viz : the Mississippi River. 
The line extends south to the Gulf, and, extended north to the Arctic 
Ocean, would give the greater half of the continent to the West, the 
East representing less than one-fourth of the Xorth American con- 
tinent. 

Long east and west lines are unnatural boundaries betweeen 
peoples, and by actual comparison one may see how very remarkably 
true to this theory have the nations of Europe applied their map mak- 
ing. An east and west boundary line in either American continent is 
repugnant to nature. The Creator made these continents to lay length- 
wise, north and south, connected by a narrow strip of land, which, 
pestilence ridden, forms a boundary almost impassible between the 
two continents. 

Hon. T. F. Sorrells, of Arkansas, in a recent speech referred to 
the interchange of commodities as naturally belonging between zones, 
north and south; that the natural channels of trade were from north 
to south, and vice versa. This is quite easy of comprehension. The 
same zones have similar products, and consequently have no legitimate 
interchange. Unnaturally, however, the great east and west trunk 
lines have diverted traffic through a combination of capital and circum- 
stances to the positive detriment of the Western people. IS^ature is 
gradually gaining the ascendancy in the matter of ti-affic, and these 
monster monopolies see the hand writing uj)on the wall ; the centre 
of population and wealth is gradually creeping westward ; the time 
approaches when the West will not pay tribute to New York or the 
railroad kings. The Santa Fe has a north and south line which con- 
nects their immense system with the Gulf; the Denver, Texas tfe Gulf 
railway connects Denver with the Gulf, mIucIi opens up a vast country 
north and w^est to the natural ©ourse of trade. Already the good effect 
of conforming to Nature's law of traffic is felt, though the great east 
and west trunk lines are dissipating as much as possible the bountiful 
blessings the Great West is sure to enjoy. 

The 49th parallel of north latitude divides a people and outrages 
nature. It forms a barrier to traffic. As Mr. Winian states: "The 
American has limitations on the north by a line drawn at the St. 
Lawrence and the lakes, and along the 49th parallel, against which his 
commerce beats as against-an impenetrable wall, and like a wave rolls 
back upon itself. A night's journey fi-om Boston or New York, 
and the limit of his boasted areas towards the north are reached ; two 
Jiights and a day, even from Chicago, in the centre of his territory, 




The Gkeat West, 11 

and tlie ground to the north covered by the trade of that great city is 
exhausted." 

Therefore, political and commercial union will speedily follow the 
p-esent agitation ; otherwise, annexation will he forced by the com- 
mercial demands of the great marts referred to by Mr. Wiman. There 
is growing a West that can not be trilled with. The Is'orth and South 
has disappeared in smoke and death. The East and West have taken 
their places. The South, like the East, were for a time masters; their 
power waning, they resorted to violence to retain their ascendency. 
Even now the power of our Eastern masters begins to wane, and they, 
too fond of their money bags to even resort to violence to retain their 
power, have been practicing extortion upon us, exacting excessive toll 
for transporting our persons, our products and necessities, demanding 
exhorbitant interest for the use of their gold, and, Shilock like, exact- 
ing the pound of flesh nearest the heart for the least deviation from 
their own heathenish laws. 

A Western Empire is forming; a financial centre (Denver) is 
established at the base of the Eocky Mountains, where nearly thirty 
millions of gold and silver annually concentrate, gathered from the 
everlasting treasure vaults of the Kocky Mountain range ; where 
money goes begging for borrowers at from six to eight per cent, per 
annum interest ; where palaces are being erected for the homes of the 
Western millionaires; where massive stone and brick blocks are being 
constructed to acconmiodate the present urgent demands of a constantly 
increasing commerce, made inevitable by the revolution taking place — 
natural currents of trade dominating the artificial, unhealthy and 
vicious channels formed by a greedy, grasping East, aided by monopo- 
listic carriers. 

Mtm can conceive of no mightier empire than the "Great West." 
That empire must have a capital. That capital must be central and 
accessible. The Star of Empire in its westward march has paused at 
Denver, and smiles upon that city, which it has christened and desig- 
nated the empire's capital. Here wealth and learning, social and 
moral culture, have l)econie firmly planted, and distinguished travelers 
have dubbed this city the 

"yllEEN CITY OF THE PLAINS," 

— founded by tried men and true — men who waded in blood to reach 
this delightful mecca — travelled across the then great American desert, 
almost every step being disputed by the savage. Thousands of lives 
were lost in those trying days, and the prairies were strewn by bleach- 
ing human bones. It required a hardy, determined people to reclaim 
this Great West from the savage. It is accomplished, and many are 
now living who should receive the hero's badge of honor, having 
braved the hardships of explorers, that future generations might 
occupy in peace and plenty this grand empire destined to rule the 
nation. 




1 Q ^ The Great "West, 

The progress of the West stands as one of the marvels of the age. 
Prior to 1859, except the states bordering on the Mississippi and Cali- 
fornia, this immense interior was regarded as a great desert, barren of 
vegetation and abounding in great useless mountain ranges of per- 
petual snow, Thii-ty years has Avitnessed a wonderful transformation, 
beo-innino- in 1859, by discoveries of gold where Denver now stands. 
The greed of gold stimulated the hardy pioneer to penetrate this track- 
less plain, and all at once it dawned upon the world that this plain 
M'as not a desert, but fertile and desirable public lands. Tliese began 
to appreciate in value, until the land between the Mississippi and Mis- 
souri Rivers was practically appropriated by the western flow of popu- 
lation. The same irresistible tide of immigration moved westward, and 
is still moving westward at tine rate of 25 to 30 miles per annum. 
Meanwhile a hardier class has outstripped the slow tide of immigra- 
tion, and the coast and mountain states have been peopled, thougli 
sparsely, with a sturdy, progressive population, whose numbers are 
daily augmented, and whose wealth (especially Colorado) is greater 
per capita than any other people on earth. Colorado is the central 
state of this vast "Western Empire, and might be said to concentrate 
within her borders the essence of wealth, contained Avest of the Missis- 
sippi River, which is equal to saying the entire Union. 

Denver is the capital of the state, and admirably situated to be- 
come the capital of the Great "West; (we accede to Pueblo the manu- 
facturing business of this vast region.) 

Fuller descriptions of states and cities will claim our attention 
later oa in this article, which has an ultimate bearing upon the great 
subject of commerce and transportation, which is soon to occupy the 
undivided attention of this New "West, and compel the National Con- 
gress to appropriate our share of the public "pap" to construct deep 
harbors upon the Gulf coast of our sister state — Texas, and otherwise 
improve transportation facilities, opening up to the entire west a 
direct and short line to the sea, and consequently to the markets of the 
world. Appropriately the first AVestern Commercial Congress assem- 
bled in Denver (the Inter-State Deep Harbor Convention), the latter 
part of last August. The movement was perpetuated, and by a happy 
arrano-ement the managing officers reside in Denver, and consequently 
the headquarters are firmly established here. 




The Gkeat West. 13 



CHAPTEK 11. 

LOUISIANA— 1541 TO IBBS. 

TAKIjS'G -^p the Great West in detail, we naturally turn to Loui- 
siana first. 

"Louisiana" was the name given by La Salle in 1682 to all of 
that portion of the United States west of the Mississippi Eiver 
(except Texas and New Mexico, then a part of Mexico), that lies 
between that river and the Rocky Mountains, including Idaho and 
Washington Territories and the State of Oregon. 

This portion of the Great West was first discovered by De Soto 
in 1541, who, however, did not ascend the Mississippi beyond Kew 
Orleans. He died the following year, and was buried in the waters of 
that mighty stream. His followers were scattered, and no permanent 
settlement was effected until 1682, when La Salle descended the river 
from the Canadian settlements and took possession of this vast region 
in the name of Louis XIV, in Mdiose honor he named the country 
Louisiana. It is generally believed, however, that no settlement- of 
importance was effected before 1699, and not until 1706 was JSIew 
Orleans established. The little colony, headed by Bienville, in that 
year unfurled the flag of France. The French crown retained posses- 
&]%)! of this territory until 1762, when it fell into the hands of the 
Spanish crown, and was severely ruled until 1800, when it again fell 
into the possession of France, and in 1803 was purchased from the 
French by the United States for $15,000,000. In 1804 the United 
States divided this territory and named what is now known as Louisi- 
ana, the Territory of Orleans, which was admitted in 1812 as a state, 
under the name of Louisiana. In the same year war with Eno-land 
was declared, and in 1814 New Orleans became famous because of its 
noble defense by General Jackson, with 5,000 men, against Sir John 
Packenham, with 12,000 Britishers. The state grew rapidly there- 
after, and to-day ranks very high, New Orleans being second only to 
New York in amount and value of domestic and foreign exports, 
amounting to about |100,000,000 per annum. The inward bound 
coastwise cargoes to New Orleans are valued at about ^200,000,000 per 
annum, imports about 120,000,000. The coastwise and foreign trade 
together amounts to nearly $500,000,000 per annum. 

The Eads Jetty system has made it possible for deep-draught 
ocean-going vessels to enter the port at New Orleans. The only draw- 
back to New Orleans as a port is the necessary towage of ninety-five 
miles from the jetties. The establishment of deep harbors on the Texas 



# 



14 The Great "West. 

coast will not affect the importance of ^^ew Orleans as a port of entry, 
as many suppose. The traffic that the proposed Texas ports will at- 
tract will be of a different class, affecting New York more than any 
other eastern port. 

Louisiana contains 41,34:6 square miles, or 26,461,440 acres. 
Much of the State is lower than the high- water level of the rivers, and 
is protected by dykes or levees from inundation. The land is generally 
of great richness, produces sugar cane, cotton, rice, corn, tobacco, 
oranges, figs, bananas, peaches, etc. 

Louisiana produces annually about 200,000 hogsheads of sugar, 
about 10,000,000 gallons of molasses, and about 500,000 bales of 
cotton, which is most all exported from the State. Other crops are 
most all consumed at home. The forests are extensive, containing 
several kinds of oak, hickory, locust, sassafras, mulberry and pine. 

Louisiana has 1,256 miles of coast on the Gulf of Mexico; the 
Mississippi River flows through and along the State border for nearly 
800 miles, and floats the commerce tributary for nearly 2,000 miles, 
and the Red and Washita Rivers are also navigable for quite a dis- 
tance, bringing wealth to the great city of New Orleans. 

The school facilities of Louisiana are second to no other South- 
ern State, and are gaining rapidly upon some of the Northern States. 

Rail connection has opened up a traffic between New Orleans and 
Denver which heretofore came by rail from New York, and has placed 
tropical fruits and sugar into Denver as cheaply as into Chicago. 
Denver and New Orleans are closely allied. We take their fruits, 
sugar and molasses, while they take our gold and silver, and the inter- 
vening sections our coal. The opening of the proposed Texas depp 
harbors will not materially affect the relations of New Orleans to 
Denver, but will materially affect Denver, as it opens up an European 
and South American trade to Denver which the disadvantages of New 
Orleans as a port of entry has heretofore barred us from. Texas deep 
harbors are a necessity, and we demand the immediate attention of 
Congress in their institution. 

Soon after the completion of the Denver, Texas tt Gulf Railroad, 
the direct rail connection, the Ne\v Orleans merchants held an exposi- 
tion of their resources in Denver Chamber of Commerce. Their favor- 
able reception caused the establishment in Denver of branches or 
agencies of tlieir large mercantile houses, the result of which has been 
beneficial to both commercial cities. 




The Gkeat "West. 15 



CHAPTER III. 

MISSOURI — 1BB2 TO IBBE. 

WE take up Missouri second in our review of States and Terri- 
tories, in the order of her seniority of State-hood. We will 
conform to that rule in our treatise of the sister-liood comprising "The 
Great West." 

LaSalle descended the Mississippi River in 1682 and took posses- 
sion of the country west of the Mississippi River i» the name of Louis 
XIY, naming it Louisiana. Missouri was included in the cessions 
made by France to Spain in 1762, and by Spain retroceded to France 
in 1800, and purchased by the United States in 1803. 

St. Louis was known as a fur-trading point as early as 1755, and 
had less than 1,000 inhabitants, and St. Genevive had about 500 in- 
habitants. St. Louis was the capital of the District of Louisiana of 
the Territory of Orleans. When the State of Louisiana was admitted 
into the Union (1812) the Territory of Orleans was obliterated, and the 
Territory of Missouri was organized with St. Louis as its capital, which 
in 1817 contained about 5,000 inhabitants, while the Territory 
contained about 60,000. In that year the Territory knocked at the 
door of Congress for admission as a State, and precipitated a fierce ex- 
citement regarding the extension of slavery into the unorganized terri- 
tory of the United States, and that came near disrupting the Union. 
A compromise was, however, effected, and the State admitted in 1820 
under conditions set forth in what has ever since been known as " the 
Missouri compromise." The President's proclamation was not issued 
completing the admission, however, until August 10, 1821. 

The State prospered, and at the breaking out of the rebellion 
in 1861 contained upwards of one million people, which has been aug- 
mented until the State contains nearly or quite 2,500,000 population. 

The State contains 69,415 square miles, or 44,425,600 acres, and 
has 114 counties. Its chief cities are St. Louis, Kansas City, Hanni- 
bal, St. Joseph, Springfield and Jefferson City (the capital). 

The Mississippi River runs the entire length of the State on its 
eastern boundary line (470 miles). The Missouri River forms a por- 
tion of the west boundary line, and deflects above Kansas City to the 
east, and flows across the State from west to east near its middle, and 
empties into the Mississippi River just above St. Louis. Both streams 
are navigable throughout their entire course through or along the State, 
the Missouri for 450 miles, and the Mississippi for 470 miles — over 



16 The Great West. 

900 miles of navigable waters available to the commerce of this great 
State. The prolitable use to which this great natural commercial 
facility has been utilized, one need only point to the magnificent com- 
mercial centers, St Louis and Kansas City. 

Missouri contains immense natural resources in the form of the 
baser metals and coal, the south half of the State being rich in coal, 
iron and lead, also timber. Notwithstanding the fact that the great 
swamp 100 miles wide starts in about Cape Girardeau and extends into 
Arkansas, Missouri produced more lead than any other State in the 
Union, until recently. Colorado now takes the lead by many thou- 
sand tons. The north half is rich in agriculture and some coal. 

In 1880 there were in Missouri 215,575 farms, averaging 129 
acres each, a total of 27,879,276 acres. Of these 1(). 745,020 acres 
were improved. Estimated value of farms, |375, 633,037. 

In 1887 Missouri had in corn 6,406,785 acres, producing 140,- 
949.000 bushels, valued at 352,151,135. ^Mieat, 1,712,603 acres, pro- 
ducing 27,744,000 bushels, valued at 317,201.280. Oats, 1,358,119 
acres, producing 39,793,000 bushels, valued at 310,346,185. All other 
field crops amounting to a value approximating 3200.00,000, or in 
round numbers, Missouri produced in 1887 from field crops a value 
approximating 3100,000,000. 

On January 1st, 1888, Missouri had 782,124 head of horses, valued 
at 345,040,996; 225,563 head of mules, valued at 315,019,534; milch 
cows, 737,259 head, valued at 314,344,215; oxen and other cattle, 
1,429,453 head, valued at 326,077,367; sheep, 1,087,690 head, valued 
at 31,894,973; hogs, 3,7,98.799 head, valued at 315,043,246. Total 
value of live stock, 3117,420,331. 

The total value of farms, farm animals and farm products of 
Missouri January 1st, 1888, amounts to 3572,752,228. 

Such vast resources deserve competitive seaboard markets, and is 
one good argument for the establishment of a<leep harbor on the Texas 
Gulf Coast, and is there any wonder Missouri joins the progressive 
movement with Colorado and the Great West in demanding of Congress 
appropriations for commerce that directly affects two-thirds of the 
area of this glorious llepublic. Colorado has a great many native 
Missourians within her borders; in fact, Colorado is mainly peopled 
with immigrants from the older States of the Union, from the progres- 
sive, energetic portion of the population of Ahierica. While the re- 
sources of this great State are similar to the products of Coloi-ado, our 
interests are common, and together we pull for the main interest — 
Deep Harbors on the Texas Giilf coast. 

Missouri is represented on the Inter-State Deep Harbor Com- 
mittee by Hon. D. 11. Armstrong, vice-president, St. Louis, Mo.; Hon. 
A. L. Tomblin, Stanberry, Mo. ; Col. 11. F. Fellows, Springfield Mo.; 
Hon. J. S. Logan, St. Joseph, Mo., and Hon. W. W. Anderson, 
Louisiana, Mo. 



• 



The Great West. 17 

CIIAPTEE IT. 

ARKANSAS-IB BD TO IBBS. 

ARKANSAS was the third State west of the Mississippi River to 
to be admitted into the Union. It formed a portion of the 
original Territory of Louisiana; later Territory of New Orleans; later 
Territory of Missouri; and after the admission of Missouri into the 
Union, became a Territory by the name of Arkansas, which then in- 
cluded the State of Arkansas and the present Indian Territory, and was 
included within the original purchase from France by the United 
States in 1803. The State is 240 miles in length, by an average 
breadth of 225 miles, containing an area of 53,850 square miles, being 
about the size of England proper, or an equivalent of 33,406,720 acres. 
This portion of the original Louisiana was nominally colonized in 1680 
by the French at the junction of the St. Francis River with the Mis- 
sissippi; but in fact, it was little better than a wilderness at the time 
of the purchase by the United States in 1803. It became a Territory 
March 2nd, 1819, named after the principal river, the Arkansas, which 
is navigable throughout its entire course in the State. It flows from 
near the northwest to near the southeast corner of the State, where it 
empties into the Mississippi River, which river flows from the north to 
the south along the entire eastern border. The other rivers in the 
State are St. Francis, White, Big Black, Washita and Saline, all more 
or less navigable. Nearly all of the counties of the State are either 
bordered or traversed by navigable streams, and probably no other area 
in the world, not surrounded l)y an ocean, of equal dimensions with 
Arkansas, has one-half of the natural commercial ways enjoyed by this 
State. The state is well watered but has no lakes worthy of name. 

The surface is, in the eastern portion along the Mississippi, very 
low and flat, subject to overflow, and very swampy; while the north 
and west portions are rolling, often terminating in small mountains 
reaching an elevation of two thousand to three thousand feet. 

The climate is exceptionally salubrious in the western portion and 
malarial in the eastern counties, Vegetation is proliflc. Yellow fever 
has never been epidemic in Arkansas, which often devastates the states 
to the east just across the Mississippi River. 

. The State abounds in valuable timber, there being large forests of 
cypress, oak, pine, red cedar, black walnut, locust, maple and mulberry 
trees. Besides these are grown beach, sycamore, ash, elm, hickory, 
laurel, juniper, ironwood, palmetto, holly, 'butternut, scrub oak, etc. 
All fruits common to the latitudes of 33" to 36° grow in abundance. 



18 The Gkeat "West. 

Game is still very abundant in some portions of the state, such as 
deer, bear, quail, prairie chicken and M'ild turkey. 

The streams afford an abundance of lish, while alligators are occa- 
sionally encountered in the bayous. 

Arkansas has fewer miles of railroad than any of her western 
sisters. That, however, is o\'erbalanced by her excellent natural chan- 
nels of commerce. 

The Territory had in 1820 only 14,273 inhabitants. The num- 
ber increased gradually, and March 1st, 1836, a State Constitution was 
formed, and the State admitted into the Union June 15th of the same 
year. The State is bounded on the w^est by the Indian Territory and 
Texas, on the south by Louisiana, on the east by Mississippi and Ten- 
nessee, on the north by Missouri. 

Arkansas is not known for its precious metals; however, there 
appears to be some considerable Biineral found there carrying 70 per 
cent, lead, and as high as 50 ounces silver per ton. Experience has 
not been such as to encourage mining for metals in the State. An 
inferior quality of coal underlies about 8,000,000 acres. It is mined 
for domestic use only, as it is regarded unlit for commercial nses. 

Arkansas produced in 1886, 42,140,000 bushels corn, valued at 
$20,648,600, on 2,069,176 acres of land; wheat, 231,357 acres pro- 
duced 1,815,000 bushels, valued at $1,542,750; oats, 263,848 acres, 
produced 4,749,000 bushels, valued at |1, 994,580; other iield crops, 
exclusive of cotton, 5,875 acres, produced crops valued at $1,091,748; 
cotton, 1,354,788 acres, produced 660,872 bales, valued at $26,662,228; 
a total agricultural product, exclusive of farm animals, vahied at 
$51,939,906. 

Arkansas had January 1st, 1888, 179,055 head of horses, valued 
at $10,678,480; 122,457 head of mules, valued at $9,063,660; 304,- 
404 head of milch cows, valued at $4,453,431; 469,057 head of oxen 
and other cattle, valued at $4,603,415; 220,16)7 head of sheep, valued 
at $310,127; 1,538,560 head of swine, valued at $3,938,202; or a total 
valuation, exclusive of farm lands, approximating $100,000,000 January 
1st, 1889. 

Arkansas is noted for its world-renowned hot springs at the city 
of that name. There are fifty to sixty mineral or medicinal springs at 
Hot Springs, varying in temperature from 93 to 148 degrees, strongly 
impregnated with carbonates and carbonic acid, and are famous for 
the benefits afforded to thousands of invalids who annually visit there. 

The greater portion of the aralde lands of the State are directly 
tributary to the proposed Texas Deep Harbors, and consequently the 
State takes a deep interest in the Deep Harbor movement, such dis- 
tinguished citizens of Arkansas are prominently identified with the 
movement, viz: Judge T. F. Sorrells, Judge AVi'lliam Fishback, Gov- 
ernor Simon P. Hughes, "Hon. J. W. T. Tiller, and Hon. William M. 
Duffy. They are members of the Inter-State Deep Harbor Committee. 



# 



The Great West. 19 



CHAPTER Y. 

IOWA— 17BB TO IBBE. 

IOWA was included, within the original Territory of Louisiana, pur- 
chased from the French by the United States in 1803. The first 
white settlement within the present limits of the State was effected in 
1788 by Julian Dubuque, a French Canadian, at a point on the Mis- 
sissippi River, now occupied by the city of Dubuque, so named in 
honor of its first founder, who, in about the year 1790, erected a fort 
to defend his possessions granted him by the Spanish crown in the 
year 1788. The grant was a large tract of land, and included the city 
now bearing his name. 

Iowa lies midway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and 
in the latitude of greatest migration it is as near as any State of the 
Union can be, the geographical centre of the United States. It is 
drained by two great rivers — the Mississippi on its eastern border, and 
the Missouri on its western border. It is bounded by the great States 
of the American Union, Wisconsin and Illinois on the east, Minnesota 
on the north, IS^ebraska on the west, and Missouri on the south. 

The State is the most purely agricultural of all the United States. 
Lead was at one time quite extensively mined near Dubuque, and was 
the direct cause of the settlement there of Julian Dubuque in 1788; he 
mined the lead and traded with the Indians until his death in 1810. 

In 1833 a small settlement was established by Ulinoisans near 
where Burlington now stands, and thereafter the eastern portion of 
the State was rapidly settled until the war of the rebellion broke out, 
when immigration was checked for about four years, after which an 
unprecedented rush for farms in Iowa was made by sturdy eastern 
farmers. Following close upon the heels of the farmer came the busi- 
ness man and manufacturer, and although almost purely agricultural, 
Iowa is a State of wonderfully diversified interests, never tending, how- 
ever, to build large cities. Moderate sized cities are scattered through- 
out the State, while on the two great rivers forming the eastern and 
western border are such inagnificent commercial centers as Keokuk, 
Fort Madison, Burlington, Muscatine, Davenport, Clinton, Bellevue, 
Dubuque, Sioux City, and Council Bluffs. 

JS'otwithstanding Dubuque was the first settler, as early as 1678 
whites had explored the country. The aboriginal owners of this lovely 
region, in their appreciation of its beauty, fertility and location, be- 
stowed upon it the very appropriate naine of Iowa, signifying in their 
language, "The beautiful land." The first Europeans who trod the soil 



20 The Great "West, 

of Iowa were two zealous French Jesuits, of Canada, James Marquette 
and Louis Joliet, who had heard from the tribes of the northwest, 
assembled in council, of the noble river, on the banks of which they 
dwelt. Marquette and Joliet were stationed at the mission of St. 
Marjs, the oldest settlement in the present State of Michigan. Mar- 
quette formed the purpose of discoverincr this gi-eat river, and the 
Indians who had gathered in large numbers to witness his departure, 
endeavored to dissuade him from his perilous journey, representing to 
to him that the Indians of the Mississippi Yalley were cruel, and 
would resent the intrusion of strangers into their domain. But he was 
not to be diverted from his purpose, and on May 13th, 1673, with 
Joliet and live French Canadian boatmen, he left the mission, and pro- 
ceeding westward to the Wisconsin, they descended that river to the 
Mississippi, and on the 25th of June landed a little above the mouth 
of what is now the Des Moines River, where they remained six days 
with a part of the Illinois nation, and on their departure Marquette 
receivea from them the calumet, the emblem of peace and a safeguard 
among the nations. The first settlement of the whites in Iowa was 
made by Julien Dubuque, in 1788, who purchased from the Indians 
the land where the City of Dubuque now stands, and engaged in min- 
ing and trading at that place, where he died in 1810. 

Although Marquette and Joliet in their exploration of the Missis- 
sippi River looked over the luxuriant border of Iowa as early as in 
1(573, yet the French and Spaniards left this country to the undis- 
turbed possession of the aborigines. Even the enterprise of Julien 
Dubuque was not inaugurated until more than a century later. 

A\1ien the United States came into possession of the Mississippi 
Valley, by the "Louisiana Purcliase,"' the territory now comprising the 
State of Iowa was in the possession of the Sacs, Foxes and lowas, with 
the savage and warlike Sioux Indians in the northern and western por- 
tions of the territory. After a long contest with these tribes under 
the leadership of the renoAmed Black Hawk, kno's^ni in history as the 
"Black Hawk War," the treaty by which the whites at last obtained 
possession of Iowa was concluded at Rock Island, September 21st, 
1832, and ratified February 13th, 1833,' to take effect June 1st, 1833, 
when the Indians left the ceded territory known as the "Black Hawk 
Purchase," thus opening the way for its settlement hj the white man. 

The territory embraced within the limits of the State of Iowa was, 
as is well known, a part of the immense empire which France sold to 
the United States in 1803, and which had been previously for a time 
a part of the possessions of the crown of Spain, to M-hicli it was con- 
veyed by France in the year 1763. 

On the 31st of October, 1803, an act of Congress was approved, 
authorising the President to take possession of the newly-acquired 
territory, and provide for it a temporary government ; and another act 
approved March 2()th, 1804, authorized the division of the "Louisiana 



The Gkeat West. 21 

Purchase," as it was then called, into two separate territories. All that 
portion south of the 33rd parrallel of north latitude, was called the 
^'Territory of Orleans," and that north of the said parallel was known 
as the "District of Louisiana," and was placed under the jurisdiction 
of what was then known as "Indian Territory." 

On the 4th day of July, 1805, another change occurred, ^lie dis- 
trict of Louisiana becoming on that day the "Territory of Louisiana." 
The legislative power was vested in the governor and three judges, to 
be appointed by the President and Senate, the former for three years, 
the latter for four. This government continued until the 7th day of 
December, 1812, when the Territory of Louisiana became the Terri- 
tory of Missouri. 

In 1819 a portion of this Territory was organized as "Arkansas 
Territory," and in 1821 the State of Missouri was admitted, being a 
part of the former Territory of Missouri. 

The admission of Missouri carried with it the abolition of the 
Territory of Missouri. All that part of the latter not included within 
the limits of the State of Missouri, was therefore left without civil 
government, and remained in that condition until June 28th, 1834, 
when the portion east of the Missouri and Wliite Earth Elvers, which 
limits included all of the present Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, and 
most of the Territory of Dakota, became a part of the Territory of 
Michigan. 

In July, 1836, the territory embracing the present States of Iowa, 
Minnesota and AVisconsin was detached from Michigan, and organized 
with a separate territorial government under the name of "Wisconsin 
Territory." 

By virtue of an act of Congress, approved June 12th, 1838, on 
the 3rd of Jnly, of the same year, the Territory of Iowa was constituted. 
It embraced the present State of Iowa, and the greater portion of what 
is now the State of Minnesota. Robert Lucas, wdio had been one of the 
early Governors of Ohio, was appointed the first Territorial Governor, 
and William B. Conway, secretary. The latter died during his term 
of office, in November, 1839, and James Clarke was appointed to the 
vacancy. The first Legislative Assembly convened at Burlington, 
November 12th, 1838. That place continued as the seat of the Terri- 
torial Government until the Fourth Legislative Assembly, which con- 
vened at Iowa City, December 6th, 1841. The latter place continued 
as the capital of the territory and state until the permanent location at 
Des Moines, in 1857. 

On the 17th of January, 1846, the Legislative Assembly passed 
an act providing directly for an election, in April following, of dele- 
gates to a constitutional convention. The convention thus provided 
for met at Iowa City on the 4th day of May following, and formed a 
constitution with the present boundaries of the state, which had mean- 
time been proposed in Congress. This constitution was adopted by the 



22 The Gkeat "West 

-people August 3rd, 184G, by 9,492 affirmative votes against 9,036 
negative votes. Governor Clarke, by proclamation, called an election 
of state officers for October 26th, 1846. On that day Ansel Briggs, of 
the county of Jackson, was elected Governor, Elisha Cutler, jr.. Secre- 
tary of State, Joseph T. Tales, Auditor of Public Accounts, and 
Morgan Reno, Treasurer. These officers entered upon their respective 
duties December followino". 

On the 28th of December, A. D. 1846, Iowa was admitted into 
the Union as the twenty-ninth state. 

It is a matter of some interest to glance at the various changes of 
ownership and jurisdiction through which it has passed. 

It belono-ed to France, with other territory now belonging; to our 
national domain. 

In 1763, with other territory, it was ceded to Spain. 

October 1st, 1800, it was ceded, with other territory, from Spain 
back to France. * 

April 30th, 1803, it was ceded, with other territory, by France to 
the United States. 

October 31st, 1803, a temporary government was authorized by 
Congress for the newly acquired territory. 

October 1st, 1804, it was included in the District of Louisiana, and 
placed under the jurisdiction of the Territorial Government of Indiana. 

July 4th, 1805, it was included as a part of the Territory of Loui- 
siana, then organized with a separate Territorial Government. 

June 4th, 1812, it was embraced in what was then made the 
Territory of Missouri. 

June 28th, 1834, it became part of the Territory of Michigan. 

July 3rd, 1836, it was included as a part of the newly organized 
Territory of AV^i scon sin. 

June I2th, 1838, it was included in and constituted a part of the 
newly organized Territory of Iowa. 

December 28th, 1846, it was admitted into the Union as a State. 

Among the iirst important matters demanding attention at the 
firet session of the Iowa Territorial Legislature, was the location of the 
seat of government, and provision , for the erection of public buildings, 
for which Congress had appropriated ^20,000. Governor Lucas, in his 
message, had recommended the appointment of commissioners, with a 
view to making a central location. The extent of the future State of 
Iowa was not known or thought of. Only on a strip of land fifty miles 
wide, l)ordering on the Mississippi River, was the Indian title extin- 
guished, and a central location meant some central point in the Black 
Hawk Purchase, and on the 21st day of January; 1839, an act was 
passed appointing Chauncey Swan, of Dubuque county; John Ronalds, 
of Louisa county, and Robert Ralston, of Des Moines county. Commis- 
sioners, to select a site for a permanent seat of government within the 
limits of Johnson county. 



The Gkeat West. 23 

Johnson county had been created hy act of the Territorial Legis- 
lature of Wisconsin, approved December 21st, 1837, and organized by 
act passed at the special session at Burlington in June, 1838, the or- 
ganization to date from July 4th following, and was, from north to 
to south, in the geographical center of this purchase, and as near the east 
and west geographical center of the future State of Iowa as then could 
be made, as the boundary line between the lands of the United States 
and the Indians, established by the treaty of October 21st, 1837, was 
immediately west of the county limits. 

The commissioners, after selecting the site were directed to lay 
out 640 acres into a town, to be called Iowa City, and to proceed to sell 
lots and erect public buildings thereon, Congress having gi-anted a 
section of land to be selected by the territory for this purpose. The 
commissioners met at Napoleon, Johnson county. May 1st, 1839, 
selected a site, section 10, in township 79 north of range 6 west of the 
Pifth Principal Meridian, and immediately surveyed it and laid off the 
town. The first sale of lots to.ok place August 16th, 1839. The site 
selected for the public buildings was a little west of the geographical 
center of the section, where a square of ten acres^ on the elevated 
grounds overlooking the river was reserved for this purpose. The 
capitol was located in the center of the square. 

On Monday, December 6th, 1841, the Fourth Legislative Assem- 
bly met at the new capitol, Iowa City, but the capitol building could 
not be used, and the legislature occupied a temporary frame house that 
had been erected for that purpose during the session of 1841-2. 

By an act of the Territorial Legislature of Iowa, approved Febru- 
ary 12th, 1844, the question of the formation of a State Constitution 
and providing for the election of delegates to a convention to be con- 
vened for that purpose, was submitted to the people, to be voted upon 
at their township elections in April following. The vote was largely 
in favor of the measure, and the delegates elected assembled in con- 
vention at Iowa City on the 7th of October, 1844. On the 1st day of 
IS'ovember following, the convention completed its work and adopted 
the first state constitution. 

The constitution adopted by this convention was rejected by the 
people at an election held in April, 1845, and also at one held on the 
4th day of August, 1845, there being at the latter 7,235 votes cast "for 
the constitution," and 7,656 votes cast "against the constitution." 

A second constitutional convention assembled at Iowa City on the 
4th day of May, 1846, and on the 18th day of the same month another 
constitution for the new state with the present boundaries was adopted, 
and submitted to the people for ratification on the 3rd day of August 
following, when it was accepted. 

The constitution was approved by Congress, and by act of Con- 
gress approved December 28th, 1846, Iowa was admitted as a sovereign 
. state in the American Union. 



24 Ihe Geeat "West, 

The first General Assembly of the State of Iowa was composed of 
nineteen senators and forty representatiA-es, It assembled at Iowa City 
Is^ovember SOtli, 1846, about a month before the state was admitted 
into the Union. 

At the first session also arose the question of the re-location of the 
capital. The western boundary of the state, as now determined, left 
Iowa City too far toward the eastern and southern boundary of the 
state; this was conceded. Congress had appropriated five sections of 
land for the erection of public buildings, and toward the close of the 
session a bill was introduced providing for the re-location of the seat 
of government, involving to some extent the location of the state 
university, which had already been discussed. It provided for the 
appointment of three commissioners, who were authorized to make 
a location as near the geographical center of the state as a healthy 
and eligi])le site could be obtained; to select the five sections of 
land donated by Congress; to survey and plat into town lots not 
exceeding one section of land so selected; to sell lots at public 
sale, not to exceed two in each block. Having done this, they 
were then required to suspend further operations, and make a report of 
their proceedings to the Governor. The bill passed both houses by 
decisive votes, received the signature of the Governor, and became a 
kw, and in 1851 bills were introduced for the removal of the capital to 
Pella and to Fort Des Moines, The latter appeared to have the sup- 
port of the majority, but was finally lost in the House on the question 
of ordering; it to its third readina;. 

On the 15th day of January, 1855, a bill re-locating the capital 
within two miles of the Kaccoon Fork of the Des Moines, and for the 
appointment of commissioners, was approved by Gpv. Grimes, The 
site was selected in 1856, in accordance with the provisions of this act, 
the land being donated to the state by citizens and property holders of 
Des Moines. 

Gov. B. R. Sherman says of the state: '-The Iowa of to-day is a 
vast empire, tlie joy of every citizen, and containing witliin itself all 
the essential elements of political and personal greatness, which needs 
only the watchful and liberal care of the state to make it the realiza- 
tion of the hopes of the most sanguine of its people. Our growth in 
population and development, in resources and possibilities, has been 
without parallel, and it is not too much to say that our people have 
been exceptional in prosperity, as unrivalled in business energies. Our 
prairies, so lately a wilderness, are teeming with a population unusu- 
ally intelligent and industrious, being constantly added to from the 
over crowded East; and in the near future the many thousands of un- 
tilled acres, fertile beyond description, and only awaiting the touch of 
the husbandman, shall be made to laugh in abundant harvests, alike 
the joy and profit of the hardy pioneer. The products of our soil, 
yielding in such wo«iderful abundance, are sent to the uttermost parts 



The Gkeat "West, 25 

of tlie globe to make glad the inhabitants of earth, and our very name 
has finally become the synonym for superiority and plenteousness, and 
the enterprise of the people has accomplished results none the less as- 
tonishing; to ourselves than a marvel to the nation.'" 

Iowa is by actual United States statistics the richest agricultural 
state in the Union, and has twice the agricultural resources of all the 
New England States combined, and in surplus products equal to the 
]^ew England and Middle States combined. 

Iowa, in 1886, produced 198,847,000 bushels of corn on 7,927,- 
019 acres, valued at $59,654,100; wdieat, 2,057,105 acres producing 
32,455,000 bushels, valued at $19,473,000; oats, 2,298,752 acres, pro- 
ducing 78,454,000 bushels, valued at $18,044,420; hay, 3,673,875 
acres, producing 4,137,844 tons, valued at $20,689,220; other field 
crops, 514,125 acres, product valued at $6,690,520; a total of field pro- 
ducts amounting to $124,551,260. 

January 1st, 1888, Iowa had 1,003,022 head of horses, valued at 
$74,032,082; mules, 45,649 head, valued at $3,936,540; milch cows, 
1,255,432 head, valued at $29,251,566; oxen and other cattle, 2,095,- 
253 head, valued at $42,633,795; sheep, 408,478 head, valued at $985,- 
249; hogs, 4,148,811 head, valued at $27,969,624; a total valuation of 
live stock amounting to $178,808,856, or twice the value of all the 
New England States combined, and unsurpassed by any state in the 
Union. Total farms cultivated in low^a in 1888 amounted to 185,351; 
almost as many as all the New England States, where farms are cut up 
into such small acreage that a western farmer would call a garden 
patch. The surplus agricultural product of Iowa is simply enormous, 
and amounts to more than all of that of the New England and Middle 
States combined. In 1887 the agricultural product of Iowa was in- 
creased by about $25,000,000 over that of 1886, while the product of 
the New England and Middle States was not materially advanced. 
Iowa's surplus product has been forced east by the force of circum- 
stances which governs this great "Western empire, viz: the dominating 
influence of the monopolistic transportation companies over the Ameri- 
can Congress, which withholds a just proportion of public appropria- 
tions for the improvement of the water ways contiguous to the "Great 
West," such as harbor facilities on the Texas Gulf Coast. The day is 
dawning that will revolutionize the channels of exportation of the sur- 
plus grain products of America, "and in consequence stimulate the in- 
dustry and enhance values of farm products and farm properties of this 
Western empire. Iowa is deeply interested in the movement for Deep 
Harbors on the Texas Gulf Coast, and consequently has placed on the 
permanent committee to secure Deep Harbors, such able citizens as 
Hon. J. M. Pierce, Hon. A. P. Chamberlin, and Hon. D. W. Smith, 
of Des Moines; Hon. W. 0. Kulp, of Davenport: and Hon. B. Zevely, 
of Council Bluffs. 



26 The Great "West. 

CHAPTER YI. 

TEXA5-1BB7 TO IBBS. 

La Salle, the French explorer, first settled Texas in 1G87, erected 
a fort on Matagorda Bay, and spread the French flag to the gentle 
breezes. "Without doubt this vast state was included within the French 
cessions to the United States in 1803, under the name of Louisiana. 

France in 1(370 ceded all the Territory of Louisiana, including 
Texas, to the Spanish Cro^^ai. The country was retroceded to France in 
1800, and by France sold to the United States in 1803. Spain, how- 
ever, claimed Texas as Spanish territory not included in the retroces- 
sion to France in 1800. 

The United States made several unsuccessfid attempts to ^^Test 
Texas from the Spaniards, between 1806 and 1816; in one battle in 
1818 the American and Mexican loss amounted to 2,500 killed, while 
700 citizens of San Antonio were massacred. In 1819 the Sabine 
Hiver was established as the boundary. 

In 1820, an American citizen, named Moses Austin, obtained 
from the Mexican government a grant of a lai'ge tract of land, and 
began a settlement which rapidly increased, but some were of such a 
lawless character that in 1830 the Mexican government forbade any 
more Americans coming into Texas. 

In 1824, the Mexicans overthrew the tyranical po^er of the Span- 
iaj-ds, and adopted a constitutional mode of government, recognized by 
e\ery foreign power except Spain. 

In 1833, a convention of settlers, then 2,000 strong, attempted to 
form an independent Mexican State; the attempt was unsuccessful. 

In December 1885, a small gathering of Texans assembled and 
declared tlie independence of Mexico, and professed to have established 
the Kepublic of Texas. Santa Anna, the President of Mexico, at once 
prepared to invade Texas with an army of 7.000 men. 

February 23rd, 1836, he with 4,000 men invested the Alamo at 
San Antonio, garrisoned by 140 men, under the command of W. B. 
Travis; thirty-two other Texans forced their way through the Mexican 
lines and joined Travis; therefore Travis could muster but 172 men, 
with which force he defended the Alamo for eleven days, repulsing the 
Mexicans repeatedly, and killing 1,600 of the attacking force, while 
his own little band was reduced to a mere handful. On tlieOth day of 
March, 1836, the Alamo fell into the hands of the Mexicans, all of its 
defenders were slain, only a woman, a child and servant being spared 
from the wholesale slaughter. They were concealed in a strong inner 



<b 



^OLOGIC^?^ 



'■5i 



% 



The Geeat West. 



;^i^ABl 



room, and escaped tlie tremendous cannonade and musketry fire. Here 
the brave Davy Crocket fell surrounded by scores of dead Mexicans, 
slain by his own hand, while defending himself in the final assault. 

General Sam Houston soon after succeeded in raising 800 picked 
men to repel the invaders. April 21st folloM^ng he gave battle to 
twice the number of Mexicans headed by Santa Anna; the battle re- 
sulted in the total defeat of the Mexicans, who lost 630 in killed, 208 
wounded, and 730 prisoners. Santa Anna escaped from the field, but 
was captured the following day. This decisive battle practically deter- 
mined the independence of Texas, and a liepublican form of govern- 
ment was at once adopted; General Sam Houston was chosen President 
and inaugurated October 22nd, 1836. 

March, 1837, the United States acknowledged the independence 
of the Texas Bepublic, followed by the acknowdedgment by France in 
1839, and England, Holland and Belgium in 1810. Thus was the Et- 
public firmly established. 

In 1815, Texas was annexed to the United States by act of Con- 
gress in December in that year. Mexico had never acknowledged the 
independence of Texas, and an invading army started from the City of 
Mexico to invest the Texas Eepublic. The United States authorities 
proposed to hold by force of arms the new territory acquired by anexa- 
tion, and the result was the Mexican war of 1846; it lasted into 1848, 
the Mexicans were defeated, and their capital fell into the hands of U. 
S. General Scott; peace was established, and Texas became one of the 
states of the American Union. It seceded with the other Southern 
States in 1861, and joined the war of the rebellion, and not until 1870 
was the state re-admitted to the Union. 

The physical features of Texas are its Gulf coastline, extending 800 
miles from the mouth of the Sabine Biver, which separates the state 
from Louisiana, to the mouth of the Eio Grande River, which forms 
the boundary line between Texas and Mexico. From a low swampy 
coast on the Gulf, the surface gradually rises to 8.000 and even 5,000 
feet above sea level in the northern portions of the Pan Handle, and 
quite mountainous in the northwestern portion, near the city of El Paso 
and near San Antonio. The shore is protected by a chain of long nar- 
row and fiat islands from the severe Gulf storms. Large lakes or 
lagoons are formed between the islands and the main land, and form a 
safe refuge for small crafts, and in some instances they are deep and 
afford safe anchorage for large ocean-going vessels. 

Tlie islands are from 50 to 200 miles long. The channels con- 
necting the lagoons with the Gulf are of variable depths, that at Gal- 
veston Island being of the greatest width and depth, the channel is 
over two miles wide and twelve feet deep at its greatest depth. 

This channel has had millions of dollars expended upon it by the 
ISTational Government in order that the channel may be narrowed and 
deepened upon the Eads plan of jetty system. The wot-k is now in the 



28 ■ The Great West. 

hands of a competent U. S. Engineer, Major Earnest, and progressing^ 
with as much success as the limited appropriations made by the 
National Congress will admit of. 

o 

The City of Galveston is situated on Galveston island, and is already 
a magnificent commercial city, deeply interested in the final success 
of the engineering skill of Major Earnest. Here is a magnificent road- 
stead capable of accommodating the commerce of the world; much 
cannot be said of the harbor as a ref ug-e for distressed vessels in severe 
weather owing to the deep water being in the channel and not land- 
locked; while commodious, it could not be regarded a perfectly secure 
harbor. It will be necessary to construct two jetties, kno\vn as the 
North and South jetties, in order to control the channel as proposed, 
each of these jetties of solid stone work will be extended six miles to 
the deep water in the Gulf. The south jetty is nearly one-third com- 
pleted; undermost favorable circumstances, with ample appropriations 
the work could not be completed under three or four years; at the 
present rate this generation will scarcely enjoy the benefits of the pro- 
posed harbor, or for that matter, any of the proposed harbors of the 
Gulf coast. 

At the mouth of the Sabine, similar work is being constructed by 
the Government, the general features being similar to Galveston; no 
city is there, however, and the commercial necessities do not compare. 

At the mouth of the Brazos River, private capital has taken hold 
of the matter by permission of the government. The bill giving them 
permission to consti'uct a harbor, also provides for payment by the 
National Government a stipulated sum per foot of depth obtained as 
the work progresses, until 24 feet of water is obtained, when final pay- 
ment is made by the Government, and the harbor management re- 
assumed by them. A great many persons believe that the friends of 
Brazos Point have solved the question of economical and speedy con- 
struction of harbors upon the Gulf coast. The friends of Aransas Pass 
also favor development by private capital in a manner similar to Brazos, 
and Congress will undoubtedly be called upon to pass a bill of similar 
tenor to enable private capital to impi-ove Aransas Harbor and Pass. 

Galveston friends and friends of Sabine professes to be satisfied 
with the National appropriation idea, but are divided upon the present 
system of appropriations in homeopathic doses. The true friends of 
either place are heartily in accord with the Inter-State Deep Harbor 
movement,* while the enemies to progress and public interest are in 
favor of continuing tlie present long-drawn-out system which probably 
affords them place or profit as individuals. Aransas Pass, while very 
conspicuous as a prospective deep water port, has received but a few 
]iun(h-ed thousand dollars from the National Government, and no con- 
tinuous work has been performed at that point; unlike (ralveston, the 



♦See Appendix for purposes and accomplishments of the Deep Harbor Committee. 



Thk Great West. 29 

harbor is land-locked, but limited in good deptli and also limited in 
anchorage; the friends of this point claim, however, that the harbor is 
of sufficient capacity to hold safely all of the merchant marine that 
will ever traverse the Gulf, in addition to all of the American navy. 
(The latter is only a slur at our present na^-y, they have been so accus- 
tomed to speak slightingly of our navy that they cannot read the signs 
of the times, viz: The future American na\^ will be larger and more 
effective than any other single government on earth can produce). 

We grant that Aransas Pass has more in her favor, naturally, to 
make a greater port than any other point on the Gulf coast, but in the 
same connection we must say that men of energy, enterprise, and 
strategy ]nove the world and not conditions. Conditions do not make 
or build cities, it is individual and collective enterprise, and they are 
which conquer conditions, as evidenced by our great Chicago. Almost 
anywhere within twenty miles of Chicago's present site could have 
been builded a city with one half the difhculties to overcome that has 
marked the era of that magnificent metropolis. Was it conditions then 
that made Chicago? ISTo, it was the man, and it will be man that makes 
Aransas, irrespective of conditions, or it will not be made at all. 
Macauber like, the friends of Aransas appear to be waiting for some- 
thing to turn up. 

Turning from the coast we follow the gradually rising and gently 
undulating prairie lands, except a few counties in the eastern portion 
famous for their pine; the state is purely agricultural and stock raising. 
Texas contains a greater area than any other state or territory of the 
United States, (except Alaska), 274,356 square miles, divided into 229 
counties, some of which are larger than some two or three ]!^ew Eng- 
land States combined. 

The principal rivers of the state are the Red, Sabine, Trinity, Col- 
orado and Grand, collectively supplying some 400 miles of navigable 
w^aters, all flowing southeast into the Gulf. 

The principal cities are Galveston, San Antonio, Fort Worth, 
Dallas, Houston, Waco and Austin, tlie latter, the state capital. Gal- 
veston is the 2:)rincipHl seaport, Houston is also a seaport city, reached 
by Galveston Bay and Buffalo Bayou; Houston is also a great railroad 
center. Dallas is a large wholesale point, only surpassed in the state 
by Fort Worth, which city claims to be the greatest railroad center in 
Texas, some thirteen roads centering or diverging from there. San 
Antonio is a winter resort, a "•quaint old town" of great historical re- 
noum; here is the famed Alamo, and various other missions of the 
early days of the Montezumas. 

Texas produces every species of grain, vegetable or fruit known 
to agriculture, except bananas, oranges and pineapples, and they are 
raised to a very limited extent. Cotton is principally produced, Texas 
ranking first of all the United States. In wool, Texas is in the lead, in 
fact in all live stock and live stock products Texas leads the Union. 



30 The Great West. 

pfblic schools. 

Tlie public schools of Texas are rapidly approaching a degree of 
perfection that approaches the boasted Kew England systems, and as 
conniared with other Sonthern States are vastly superior. The follow- 
ing facts gathered from reports of Hon. F. ]>. Chilton, Secretary of the 
Texas State Bureau of Immigration, and can be relied upon: 

The permanent free school fund, invested in state and county 
bonds, is 15,873,174.02; 40,000,000 acres of land controlled by the 
state, and four leagues, or 17,712 acres, to each county organized and 
unorganized, controlled by the counties, making a total of 47,288,676 
acres, which at 83 per acre would bring 3141,806.028, added to the 
above makes a grand total of ^147, 739, 202.02. The interest on the 
bonds and land notes for which school lands, have been sold, rentals 
from the lands leased, one-third of the state tax, and one dollar on each 
poll, forms the available fund which is used each year for the mainte- 
nance of public free schools. The availal)le fund is increasing rapidly 
each year. In 1881 the amount appropriated for maintenance of public 
free schools was |103,933.44; in 1885 it was ^2,050,000; in 1887 it 
was ^2,285,415; a letter from the treasurer of the state says, the 
appropriation for 1888 will be about §2,300,000. This fund will soon 
be sufficient to give free education to ten times as many children and 
persons as now live in Texas, between the ages of five and twenty 
years. We have a State University located at Austin, the capital, 
which is one of the best endowed educational institutions in the United 
States. It is open to both sexes; tuition free. The Constitution of 
the state provides for the establishment of a university for the educa- 
tion of colored youths; steps have been taken to put it in operation. 
The University lands will permanently endoAV these institutions, mak- 
ing them in time the cnpuil of any in America. The University Per- 
nuxnent Fund is at present §523,411, invested in bonds; this with an 
available fund of |21,680, and cash on hand of $10,825, makes a total 
University Fund of $555,916. Besides this, it has 2,221,400 acres of 
land, most of which was located at an early day, and is very A-aluable, 
worth from $3 to $20 per acre. At an average of $6 it would bring 
$13,328,400, making a grand total of $13,884,316 for university 
purposes. The State Agricultural and Mechanical College, located 
near the City of Bryan, Brazo County, is endowed with $209,000. in- 
vested in bonds, also a large endowment from the United States Gov- 
ernment. Ninety-four students, one-half of whom take a mechanical, 
and one-half an agricultural course, receive free board and tuition. 
The cost of board and tuition for other students is $130 for the school- 
astic year. The Sam Houston Normal School for the education of 
white teachers, and the Prairie View Nonnal School for the education 
of colored teachers, are supported by the state, and 155 white and 45 
colored students receive tuition and board free, in proportion to Avhite 
and colored population. 



The Great "West. 



31 




32 The Great West. 

Texas produced, in 1886, 69,213,000 bushels of corn on 4,417,- 
688 acres, valued at ^38,759,280; wheat on 529,104 acres producing 
5,383,000 bushels, valued at $4,844,700 ; oats, on 552,966 acres, pro- 
ducing 11,369,000 bushels, valued at |5,684,500; cotton, on 3.771,. 
740 acres, 1,499,698 bales, valued at 361,102,188; other field crops, 
on 125,444 acres, products valued at 11,524,686; or a total value of 
field products, $111,915,354. 

January 1st, 1888, Texas had the following live stock: horses, 
1,225,803 head, valued at $38,115,135; mules, 193,488 head, valued 
at $10,032,254; milch cows, 772,716 head, valued at $10,972,567; 
other cattle, 6,336,504 head, valued at $63,077,993; sheep, 4,523,739 
head, valued at $6,864,744; hogs, 2,279,082 head, valued at $6,436,128; 
a total live stock value of $135,498,821; grand total of agricultural and 
live stock products amounting to $247,414,175. 

The total of assessed values of all properties in Texas for 1888, 
$730,225,123. 

The total commerce of Texas, imports, exports and coastwise trade, 
amounts to nearly $200,000,000^ per annum, even with the limited 
harbor facilities now enjoyed. Deep harbors would add from 100 to 
200 per cent, and make Texas second to no state in America in 
comuierce, etc. 

The following recapitulation of Texas statistics we glean from 
Hon. F. B. Chilton's reports of January 1st, 1888. They are, some- 
what, but not materially at variance with United States statistics, 
owing probably to the fact that the following is one year later than the 
government reports: 

Area of Texas, square miles ; 274,356 

Area of Texas, in acres 175,587,'840 

Area of mineral lands, acres 20,000 000 

Area of timbered lands, acres 46,000^000 

Of which tnere are pine and cypress, acres 26,000,000 

Number of acres of public free' school lauds, controlled by the State . . . 40,000,000 

" " " " counties. 4.237,596 

State University lands 2,221,400 

Other school interests '839^680 

Asylum lands (Deaf and Dumb, Lunatic, Blind and Orphan), 100,000 

acres each 400,000 

Number of counties (none less than 30 miles square) 293 

And enough terncory to organize an additional 60 

Number of bales of cotton raised, 1887 1,352,377 

" bushels of corn raised, 1887 63,416.:300 

" " of oats raised, 1887 10.000,000 

" " of wheat raised, 1887 4.374,000 

Estimated live stock in 1887 12,000,000 

Shipped live stock in 1887 l]50(UX)0 

Exported pounds of wool 8.000.000 

" " of hides, 1887, about 60,000,000 

Estimated population of 1887 3,000,000 

Number of miles of railway, 1887 9,500 

And number of miles to be built in 1888 1,280 

Taxable values of 1887 S650.225 J23 

Rate of taxation 37i^cts. on the SlOO 

Value of farm products $172,000,000 



The Gkeat West. 33 

Value of live stock $150,500,000 

" stock shipped $10,000,000 

" hides shipped, 1887 §5,400,000 

" wool exported, 1887 $1,600,000 

•' free school fund, bonds and lands $147,769,202 

Available school fund, 1887 $2,285,451 

Probable fund for 1888 $2,300,000 

Value of State University fund, lands and bonds $13,884,316 

Available fund for 1887 §32,505 

Endowment fund of the State Agricultural and Mechanical College . . . $500,000 

Value of Asylum lands $12,000,000 

Estimated value of railways $215,600,000 

While Mr. Cliilton estimates the value of railways in the state at 
over $200,000,000, it is a remarkable fact that no Texas railways have 
ever yet paid a dividend, accounted for probably in the marvelous 
amount of railroad extensions indulged in by the various railroads, 
and the vast mileage necessary to traverse the state, some of which 
must unavoidably pass through large stretches of unoccupied territory. 

Texas is almost an empire within itself, and forms no small por- 
tion of the vast empire that stretches from the "Father of Waters" on 
the east, to the Pacific Ocean on the west. It is the key to the great 
treasure vaults of the Great West. The establishment of deep harbors 
on the Texas coast will open the door which will admit of the AVest; 
"the greater half of the continent" interchanging commerce with the 
world without the intervention and extortion of the east, and build up 
a Texas such as the early Texas fanatic never dreamed of, or the most 
sanguine of present sages ever conceived. 

In size and resources Texas surpasses almost any European 
country, and the Great West collectively surpasses all of Europe 
combined. 



34 The Great "^^est. 



CHAPTER YII. 

CAUFDRNIA-1542 TD IBBE. 

PTIIOR. to 1542 California was practically unknown, and the name^ 
'probably, originated througb a Spanish romance, published in 
1510, in which the author speaks of an island which he called Cali- 
fornia Island, a place M'here an abundance of gold and precious stones 
was to be found. 

The Spaniards, the great explorers, fitted out a fleet in qiiiest of 
the island of so much abundance, under the command of one Cabrillo, 
and in 1542 they coasted along what is known as California, as far 
north as Cape Mendocino, in 42 degrees north latitude. In 1579 Sir 
Francis Drake, in command of an English fleet, plundering Spanish 
commerce, coasted along California as far as 48 degrees north latitude 
and it is believed sailed into San Francisco bay to overhaul his vessels; 
he claimed the country in the name of England, and named it New 
Albion. The country, however, remained unoccupied, except by a few 
Jesuites, until 1707, when the Franciscan friars entered and occupied 
California, driving out the Jesuits with the aid of a proclamation of 
the King of Spain, backed by armed coadjutors. They succeeded in 
establishintr various missions, succeedincr in bringing; under their sub- 
mission the mass of the aborigines, and prospered well until Mexico 
became independent (in 1822) ; that marked the turning point in the 
Franciscan rule, and their power gradually waned until 1840, when 
they were entirely broken up. 

The Indians were treated by these missions as little better than 
slaves; they were, however, taught frugality, and prospered in a wordly 
way, intellectually they were very little aided by the missions. In all 
there were twenty-one missions, the first being established in 1769, 
the last in 1820. TLey were all well located, the priests having dis- 
played excellent judgment in selecting the best garden spots for their 
settlements. The Indian population was large, even up as late as the 
cecession of California to the United States by Mexico in 1848. The 
mission Indians numberino; at that time about 30,000. In 1880 there 
were but 11,()80 Indians in the entire state. 

Just prior to the United States coming into possession of Cali- 
fornia, there was great rivalry between England, France and the United 
States over this Mexican possession, and in 1842, Commodore Jones, 
of the American navy, captured the fort at Monterey, and raised the 
stars and stripes; the next morning, however, he hauled down his flag 



The Great West. 35 

and made satisfactory apology for the mistake. Both European 
countries were charged with attempting to wrest this country from 
Mexico; such a thing the United States would not tolerate. The 
result being that when war was declared with Mexico by the United 
States, that General Fremont, who had been upon a scientific investi- 
gation on the Pacific coast, abandoned his explorations in May, 1846, 
and made his way to Sonoma, where he organized a battalion of 
mounted riflemen, and on the 5th day of July recommended a declara- 
tion of independence. Commodore Sloat, on a United States frigate, 
put in at Monterey on July 2nd, and on the morning of the 7th, in- 
vested and took possession of the fort, and hoisted the stars and 
stripes, with no intention of imitating Commodore Jones' example, by 
hauling them down again. He immediately issued a proclamation 
declaring California to be a part of the United States. General Fre- 
mont in obeying the orders of Commodore Stockton, (who had super- 
ceded Sloat), instead of those of General Kearney, who ranked the 
Commodore, and assumed command, got himself into trouble and was 
court-marshaled, found guilty of "mutiny and disobedience." The 
President rejected the finding as to mutiny, and remitted the penalty 
on the other count, but General Fremont refused the clemency and re- 
signed. He afterwards conducted several successful expeditions over- 
land to California, and served the government most faithfully in his 
explortaions in the Rocky Mountains, and he is regarded almost uni- 
versally as the conqueror of the territory. 

At the close of the war with Mexico California was ceded to the 
United States in the treaty of peace ratified May 19th, 1848, and im- 
mediately the question came up whether it should be admitted to the 
Union as a free or a slave state. Congress adjourned March 4th, 1849, 
without settling the question, or even forming a territorial government. 
San Francisco was, however, made a port of entry and the customs 
laws were extended over the country. 

Meanwhile, in 1848, gold had been discovered, and a grand rush 
had been made to the new Eldorado; the population had increased 
rapidly, the matchless harbor at San Francisco had attracted the com- 
merce of every nation, presenting a centre of attraction for the restless 
and energetic of every race and clime. 

September, 1849, the people held a convention, which framed a 
State Constitution, in which slavery was expressly forbidden. 

September 7th, 1850, congress passed a bill admitting California as 
a free state, but as a compromise left N^ew Mexico and Utah, (organized 
on the same day as territories), open to its introduction. The gold ex- 
citement was now at its height, fortunes were made in a day, and a 
constant stream of gold flowed eastward, intensifying the excitement. 
Speculation ran rife, and property in San Francisco was held at fabulous 
prices; lots were worth gold coin enough to carpet them; all forms of 
gambling were regarded as legitimate business ; adventurers and crimi- 



36 The Great "West, 

nals flocked in, and society was in a chaotic state. Self-preservation 
being tlie first law of nature, order became necessary, which could only 
be enforced by stringent measures, and Avas the direct cause of the for- 
mation of the celebrated vigilance committee, which soon assumed the 
proportions of a regular government, and successfully resisted the state 
authorities up to 1850, when they formally resigned, after having 
liano-ed several and driven liundreds of the worst characters from the 
state. The vigilantes held their courts and pronounced judgment 
which was speedily executed, while their judgment was often severe, 
it has never been charged that injustice was done, while such methods 
are to be deplored, the exigencies of the times demanded speedy justice 
and a general fear of the consequences of sin, 

California is one of the largest states of the Union, being 750 
miles long by an average of 200 in width, containing 155,980 square 
miles. The state is blessed with several line harbors, the best being 
at San Francisco; the others at San Diego, Humboldt, Santa Barbara, 
Monterey, Bodega, San Luis, Obispo and Tomales; the first named 
being the best harbor on the Pacific coast, if not the best in the world. 
The bay is completely land-locked and of ample room to float the com- 
bined navies of the world, 

California has but two prominent rivers, the Sacramento and the 
San Joaquin, both empty into San Francisco Bay, one from the north- 
east and the other from the southeast, both are navigable for consider- 
able distance. There are two great mountain chains in the state, the 
Sierra Xevada and coast range. The state is interspersed with moun- 
tains and large fertile vallevs. The principal mountain peaks are 
Shastar Tyndall, Brewer and Dana, ranging in height from 13,000 to 
14,500 feet. The valleys have the appearance of having been at one 
time immense lakes that would compare with Lakes Superior and 
IVIichicran, havino- been drained into the ocean, left a rich sediment 
which axicounts prol)ably for the remarkable fertility of these valleys. 
The state is noted for its wonderful scenery, especially that in the great 
Yosemite valley, which is world renowned. The valley is al)out 150 
miles southeast of San Francisco, at an elevation of 4,000 feet above 
sea level, in the center of the Sierra Nevada mountains, hemmed in by 
almost perpendicular walls or cliffs, from 2,000 to 3,000 feet high. 
The great falls of Yosemite creek are the most wonderful in the world; 
the creek falls 2,000 feet in three leaps, tlie highest being 1,500 feet. 
Mt. Dana, which towers above and dominates the Yosemite valley, is 
over 13,000 feet high, and is easily ascended; from its summit a mag- 
nificent panorama of the Sierra Nevada range and Yosemite valley is 
obtainable. "The big trees" also attract much attention; these giants 
of the forest may be seen in groups, the most imj)ortant being near 
Visalia. The common name for these trees is giant red wood; they 
vary in height from 100 feet to 400 feet, and in circumference at five 
feet from the ground, varying from 25 to more than 100 feet; one now 



Thk Great "West. 37 

standing measures 104 feet in cireuniferance, and 376 feet in height, 
remains of fallen trees indicate that much larger trees ha^-e grown 
there. The other native species of timber are pines in large variety, 
black oak, ash, hickory, elm, beach, vidiite cedar, spruce, iir, laurel, 
tamarack, cypress, yew, juniper, chestnut, acacia, poplar, cottonwood, 
walnut, maple, buckeye, and innumerable varieties of shrubs, the most 
remarkable being the "chaparral." 

The wild animals of California are varied and quite extensive, 
although they are being gradually exterminated, especially those 
animals valuable for theii- fur or flesh. 

The largest and fiercest of the animals of this state — the grizzly 
bear — is now almost extinct; next comes the black, brown and cinna- 
mon bears, followed by the less harmful wolves, badgers, coyotes, 
foxes, wild cats, otter, beaver, gopher, skunks, martins, weasels, elk, 
deer, rabbits and other minor animals, probably the most attractive of 
all California animals is the sea lion, which frequents seal rock at 
Golden Gate in countless numbers, whose noise and gambols attract 
thousands of sight seers daily. Birds of every variety, indigenous to 
the varied climate, are in great abundance, the California quail and sage 
hen being remarkable for plumage and food qualities, other species 
being; not unlike those found all over the "Western States. 

Fish in great abundance and variety are found in the rivers, bays 
and in the ocean, and their catch and preservation form the important 
industries of the state. 

The precious metals are all found in the Sierra Nevada mountains 
in the northeast portion of the state, gold being the most prominent 
and found in greater abundance than in any other field in the world, 
the average annual output for thirty years being upw^ards of |20,000,000, 
approximating in the thirty years nearly $1,000,000,000. It is mined 
principally by placers, although some good quartz lodes have been dis- 
covered and worked. Quicksilver is largely used in placer mining, and 
is found near at hand in great abundance, and one mine has yielded as 
high as 3,500,000 lbs. quicksilver per annum, and is the largest mine 
of the kind in the world. 

The volcanic character of California is manifest in the formation 
of the mountains, and there are occasionally earthquakes now of more 
or less violence, upheaving and cracking the ground. In consequence of 
this uncertainty, the traveler will see that the great majority of houses 
in California are of frame, or if of stone, the foundation and upper 
walls are of unusual width and strength. 

The state boasts of a very superior climate, the leading feature 
being the remarkable uniformity of temperature, the mean summer 
temperature of San Francisco is 60 degrees, and mean winter tempera- 
ture 51 degrees; there are but two seasons, the dry and rainy, corre- 
sponding with the eastern summer and winter, the dry season being 
from May to N^ovember, and the rainy season from November to April. 



38 The Gkeat AVesi 

Isot mnch more than one-third of the state is adapted to agricul- 
ture, and only about one-half of that is being cultivated. In 1886 
California had 3,104,64:0 acres of wheat, producing 36,165,000 bushels, 
valued at $26,400,450; 722,450 acres of barlev, producing 16,038,000 
bushels, valued at ^10,424,700; hay,967,479 acres, producing 1,296,234 
tons, valued at §10,564.807; other crops, 328,489 acres, producing 
crops valued at 87,076,300; a total value of crops amountino; to ^54,- 
4do, <o(. 

January 1st, 1888, the state contained 345.828 head of horses 
and mules, valued at |25,098,644; 250,773 head of milch cows, 
valued at $8,275,509; oxen and other cattle, 692,267 head, valued at 
$14,194,447; sheep, 5,462,728 head, valued at $10,291,779; hogs, 
1,047,842 head, valued as $4,836,000; or a total of 7.799,438 head of 
live stock, valued at $62,696,379, or a grand total of farm products 
amounting to $117,166,136. 

California abounds in fruit, and especially excels in oranges, 
peaches, apricots and grapes, which fruit is shipped in large quantities 
either green, dried, canned or in juice wine, etc.; the total value of 
which forms no small proportion of the stale's farm jjroduct, and 
would place the entire product well on to $200,000,000. 

The principal commercial cities of the state are San Francisco, 
Sacramento, Los Angeles and San Diego. 

^Vliile California has not yet entered very actively into the move- 
ment for deep harbors on tlie Texas Gulf coast, yet their interests are 
identical with all of "The Great AVest," and in a short time they will 
add their iniluence to build up a western commercial Congress that 
will shake the nation, and insure recognition from the great Xational 
Congress at Washington. California has received almost her propor- 
tion of national appropriations, owing to the intimate commei'cial re- 
lations San Francisco has ever had to the great City of Kew York, 
these relations are being gradually shifted to a nearer and dearer rela- 
tionship which is springing up in this grand AVestern Empire, to 
which San Francisco is destined to be what Xew York has been here- 
tofore to the entire Union, dividing honors only with the Gulf port. 



The Great West. 39 



CHAPTER YIII. 

MINNESOTA— IBB D TO IBBE. 

WHILE Minnesota lays on both sides of the Mississippi, which 
river finds its source in the north central portion of the state, 
it is usually and in this history rated as Trans-Mississippi, or a portion 
of ''The Great West." 

It was first explored as far north as St. Anthony's Falls in 1680, 
by French fur traders, and the falls received their name by a Franciscan 
Priest named Louis Hennepin, after whom the county in which Min- 
neapolis is situated was named. The French succeeded in establishing 
several fur trading stations in Minnesota about that time; the settle- 
ment of the state, however, did not commence until 1845. England 
became possessor of this portion of JSTorth America in 1763, the French 
having in that year cededTit to Great Britain. 

The United States came into possession of this territory at the 
conclusion of the Revolutionary War in 1783, and was included in 
what was then termed the Northwest Territory, and which included 
Wisconsin and Illinois. In 1820, Fort Snelling was built, and two 
years later a mill was erected at St. Anthony Falls, where Minne- 
apolis now stands. In 1823, the first steamboat ascended the river to 
St. Anthony Falls, and about the year 1830 a small Swiss colony 
settled near where St. Paul now is. In 1838 the Indian title to the 
lands east of the Mississippi River were extinguished, and in 1812 a 
settlement was effected at Stillwater. 

The territory of Minnesota was organized by Act of Congress in 
1849, the territory then containing 5,000 white population. Soon after 
the Indian title to the lauds between the Mississippi and Red River 
of the Korth was extinguished, barring a few small reservations, the 
settlement of the territory then began in earnest, immigration being 
so rapid that Congress, in 1857, opened a way for the territory's admis- 
sion into the Union, which was immediately acted upon by the people, 
and on May 11th, 1858, the state was admitted, and rapid progress 
was made in population, wealth and intelligence. 

The boundaries of the state as established by the Act of Admis- 
sion included 83,531 square miles, one-third of which is valuable 
timber land, including all varieties of deciduous trees found anpvhere 
in the northern states, including valuable pine forests. 

The state contains innumerable lakes of more or less importance, 
in fact about one-thirtieth part of the state's surface is covered with 



40 iHE Geeat "West. 

water; tlie most iiiiportaiit lake being' Minnetonka Like, near Minne- 
apolis, and "White I^ear lake, near St. Paul. The state contains several 
rivers, the most important being the Mississippi, Hed river of the Korth, 
Minnesota and St. Croix, all of which are more or less navigable, there 
beincr within the state 1,350 miles of navitjable streams. The waters 
of the state flow south into the Gulf, east into the great lakes, and 
north into Hudson Bay, the great divide being in the northwest portion 
of the state; this divide, the liighest portion of which i* a table land 
at an elevation of 1,680 feet, but not more than 100 feet above the sur- 
rounding country, nothing resembling mountains in the state. The 
streams have an unusual fall, and often flow over precipitous places, 
inaking waterfalls of sncli importance as to supply the state with 
abundant water power, the principal of which is situated at Minne- 
apolis (St. Anthony Falls), where the largest flour mills in the world 
are situated, the combined output of which aggregate over 3,000 barrels 
per day. 

Minnesota ranks well in the front of ao-rieultural states of the 

o 

Union. Spring wheat is the principal cereal, and in that commodity the 
state excels all others, and likewise in oats, excepting Iowa. 

In 18SG the state produced 19,905,000 bushels of corn from GGS,- 
380 acres, product valued at $G,7G7,700 from 3,0(57,851 acres; 42,- 
85G,000 bushels of wheat, valued at ^26,142,1()0, from 1,184,032 acres; 
40,735,000 bushels of oats, valued at |10,183,750, from 3G7,G01 acres; 
8,455,000 bushels of barley, valued at $3,551,100, from 480,000 acres; 
G00,000 tons of hay, valued at 12,820,000, from 63,161 acres; 5,306,- 
000 bushels of potatoes, valued at $1,963,220; other fleld crops, 39,- 
874 acres, product valued at $246,480; or a total value of field crops 
amounting to §51,674,410. 

January 1st, 1888, the state contained 390,458 head of horses and 
and mules, valued at $32,479,714; 433,966 head of milch cows, valued 
at $10,30(),693; 489,886 head of oxen and other cattle, valued at $9,- 
974,076; 283,725 head of sheep, valued at $674,698; 549,793 head of 
hogs, valued at $3,254,775; a total of 1,947,828 head of live stock, 
valued at $56,689,956; or a grand total of farm products valued at 
$107,264,366. 

l\[innesota is also recjarded as a health resort notwitlistandincr the 
long cold winters. The atmosphere is dry and bracing and the cold 
equitable. The summers are delightful, warm days and cool nights, 
and attract thousands of tourists during that season. LakeMiimetonka 
has become a very ])opular summer resort, and there are several very 
larcre and comfortal)le hotels situated about the lake where every 
creature comfort is supplied. Several excursion steamers ply about 
the lake for the accommodation of visitors, besides numerous sailing 
crafts and row boats. 

The lake is reached by a moter line from Minneapolis, likewise 



The Gee at "West. 41 

by the popular St, Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Eailway wbich con- 
nects St. Paul and Minneapolis with this beautiful lake. 

The school facilities of this state are unsurpassed by any. There 
are public schools and colleges adequate for the rapidly increasing 
population, where a finished education may be had which vies with the 
great institutions of learning in the Eastern States. Society is of the 
very best and highly refined. 

The principal cities are St. Paul, (the Capital), Minneapolis, 
"Winona, Eed Wing, Duluth and Fergus Falls. The state is well pro- 
vided with railroad facilities, the principal lines being the St. P. M. & 
M., C. B. & Q., C. M. & St. P., C. & N. W., K. P. St. P. & D., and 
the C, St. P., M. & O. railways. 

Minnesota is awakening to the importance of the movement for 
deep harbors on the Gulf coast. Gov. McGill, in his last biennial 
message to the Legislature of that state, recommended the appropria- 
tion of at least $1,000 dollars to aid in the agitation. As yet no repre- 
sentation of that state has been had on the permanent Standing 
Committee, known as the "Inter-State Deep Harbor Committee;" we 
are assured, however, that they are with us, and will ere long have 
their full quota of representation on the committee which is fast 
assuming the importance of a Western Commercial Congress. 



42 The Gkeat West. 



CHAPTER IX. 

OREGON- 1592 TO 1BB3. 

□ E.EGON at one time embraced all that portion of the United Stares 
north of California and west of the main range of the liocky 
Mountains,- including a portion of Idaho Territory, and all of the 
present State of Oregon, and the lately admitted State of Washington. 
The coast of Oregon was lirst discovered by De Fuca, a Greek navi- 
gator, no claim, however, was made to the country until the Spanish 
Admiral Fonte, in 1640, coasted along the west coast of America in the 
interests of Spain, which country she pretended to claim as Spanish ter- 
ritory until 1790, when she ceded to England, by treaty, any rights she 
might have to that portion of America. Kotwithstanding se^•eral explor- 
ers had coasted along the entire west coast of America, the discovery of 
that noble stream, the Columbia River, was made by an American 
navigator, from Boston, Captain Robert Gray, who commanded the 
merchant ship "Columbia." Captain Gray had sailed past the mouth 
of the Columbia River twice on his trading voyages; the lirst time in 
1789, without discovering the river, and the second time in June, 1791. 
at which time he marked the location of what he believed to be a large 
river; he did not sail in, however, owing to the surf which broke with 
violence across the mouth of the stream. Soon after he encountered 
Captain George Vancouver, of the English Na^y, to whom he related 
his discovery. Vancouver, however, scouted the idea, as he had searched 
the whole coast, trying to find such a stream, and believed it was im- 
possible that he could have missed it. Captain Gray soon parted with 
Vancouv^er and sailed south, hoping to effect an entrance to the river 
that he was certain he had discovered; he soon sighted the mouth of 
the river, (May, 1792), and with all sails set he steered the "Columlua" 
boldly for it, and safely ran in, between the breakers into a basin where 
no other sail had ever been; he continued his course up the river 
some fifteen or twenty miles, followed by a swarm of canoes filled 
with curious nativ^es. 

The anchor being let go. Captain Gray found himself floating on 
the peaceful bosom of a fresh water river, which he named Columbia, 
after his noble ship. This river's existence had been surmised for some 
years previous, and the phantom river was called the Oregon, after the 
country through which it was supposed to flow. 

Captain Gray made a report to the United States Government of 
the discovery he had made, and it was a basis upon M'hich the Go\-ern- 



The Great West. 43 

ment claimed the valley of tlie river. France had likewise a shado-^'y 
•claim to all that portion of North America west of the Mississippi 
Kiver, and north of the Spanish possessions, under the name of Louis- 
iana, all of which the United States acquired by purchase in 1803. 

President Jefferson ordered a survey of the Columbia, and started 
out a continental exploring party in 1804, in charge of Captains Lewis 
and Clarke, who ascended the Missouri River to its source, crossed the 
grand continental divide, and encountered the Columbia River in about 
49 degrees north latitude. They surveyed it to its mouth, including 
its tributaries, and thereby gave the United States a substantial title to 
the country. It was not, however, until 1846 that all dispute regard- 
ing the title was settled; it was then determined by treaty with Great 
Britain, fixing the 49th parallel north latitude as the boundary line 
between the United States and British America. ■ 

Orecron was sparsely settled with fur traders, principally English, 
who discouraged immigration and succeeded in keeping the country 
practically a wilderness up to the year 1833, when a few settlers found 
their way overland to this delightful and rich state. 

In 1834 Dr. Marcus AVliitman, a missionary, succeeded in plant- 
ing a colony near Walla Walla, after which tlie country began to settle 
up gradually, but no considerable immigration took place until the 
excitement caused ])y the finding of gold in California in 1849, the 
overflow of disappointed gold seekers then found their Vv'ay to Oregon. 

The few settlers who were in the state succeeded in organizing a 
Territorial Government by the adoption by their votes of a Territorial 
Constitution in the year 1845. It was, however, not until August 14th, 

1848, that Congress passed the act to organize the territory, the delay 
being caused by the open question between England and the United 
States as to the title, which was settled, as before stated, by treaty 
in 1846. 

Joseph Lane, the first Governor of tlie territory, arrived March 3d, 

1849, when the government was inaugurated. The act of Congress 
creating the territory of Oregon, included within that territory all of 
the present states of Oregon and Washington ; the latter was, however, 
created a territory in 1853, which left Oregon its present dimensions, 
which was admitted into the Union as a state February 14th, 1859. 

The state contains 96,030 square miles. The principal rivers are 
the Columlna and branches, Wiiliamette, Fall River, Snake River and 
the Owyhee. 

The Columbia is the only navigal:)le stream in the state, which 
is only navigable 96 miles, to the Cascade range of mountains, which 
has several extinct volcanos, ranging in height from 4,000 to 10,000 
feet above sea level ; here is found some gold, silver and platinum. 
Coal has also been discovered in limited quantities. Tlie forests 
abound with game, including the grizzly and black bear, panther, wild 
cat, elk, deer and antelope. The feathered game is quite plentiful, and 



44 The Geeat "West. 

vies with California for variety, etc. The rivers swarm M'ith sahnoii, 
which has aided the state very materially in a great industry, that of 
canned salmon. 

The chief cities are Salem, (the Capital), Portland and Oregon 
City. The climate of Oregon resembles California; it is believed, 
however, to be superior in some respects. Tlie death rate is small, and 
the state is reganled a sanitarium to some extent, and is certainly bene- 
ficial to a large class of diseases. 

The immense forests of pine form no inconsiderable portion of the 
state's resources. Oregon pine being considered superior in many 
respects to any other found on the American Continent. 

The principal agricultural products of the state are wheat, oats, 
potatoes and fruit. 

In 1886 the state produced 11,133,000 luishels of wheat, valued 
at $7,570,440, fj-om 884,640 acres; 5,102,000 bushels of oats valued 
at ^2,142,840, from 199,199 acres; other crops 431,371 acres, product 
valued at ^5,467,030; total field products, $15,180,310. 

January 1st, 1888, the state contained 180,947 head of horses and 
mules, valued at $9,090,543; milch cows, 78,997 head, valued at $2,- 
338,311; oxen and other cattle, 598,218 head, valued at $12,172,122; 
sheep, 2,930,123 head, valued at $4,987,069; hogs, 220,723 head, 
valued at $664,819; total live stock, 4,009,008 head, valued at $29,- 
252,864, which, added to the value of product field crops, 1886 gives a 
total of farm products amounting to $44,433,174, exclusive of fruits, 
which would increase tlie prcwluct, if statistics were obtainable, to nearly 
or quite $50,000,000; then add the fisheries' industries, and the state's 
annual product would be increased considerably. 

As yet the state has not joined the progi-essive movement for deep 
harbor facilities on the Texas Gulf coast, owing to the prevailing 
opinion of its people that the proposed harbors are too far away to 
benefit Oregon. Tliat, however, is a mistaken idea, as from practical 
demonstration an interchange of commodities has taken place between 
Texas Gulf ports and Oregon within tlie past year. 

Oregon will, ere long, aM-aken to the importance of joining this 
grand western alliance which is formed to advance the interests of the 
Great West. 



The Great West. 45 

CHAPTEE X. 

KANSAS -1BB2 TO IBBS. 

KAi^SAS was included witliiii the Louisiana Territory purchased 
fi-oni France by the United States in 1803, discovered by La 
Salle in 1682. It was successively a part of the District of Louisiana, 
of the Territory of Orleans, then of Missouri Territory, and after the 
admission of the State of Missouri, in 1821; it formed a part of the 
great unorganized portion of the Louisiana purchase until 1854, when 
a semblance of a Territorial Government was established under the 
famous Stephen A. Douglas' Kansas-]S ebraska Bill. A fierce contest, 
however, raged between the slavery and anti- slavery inhabitants of the 
territory until 1859, the anti-slavery element gaining the ascendency, 
after a bitter strife and much loss of life to both sides. During this 
turbulent period the famous John Brown, of Osawatomie, figured quite 
prominently, and waged a relentless war upon the slave trade men. 
Afterwards he went east, and in 1859 attempted to seize the arsenal at 
Harper's Ferry, arm the negroes, and incite the slaves to rebel against 
their masters ; he was captured after l)eing wounded, and by the United 
States authorities executed very promptly. This one incident, probably, 
more than any other, started the ISTorthern people to thinking seriously 
■of the abolition of slavery. 

Kansas Territory at this time comprised the limits of the present 
state, and a large portion of Colorado, including where Denver now 
stands, as far west as Leadville, and south to the southern boundary 
line of the state, and containing 114,793 square miles. In 1859 a 
constitution was adopted for the proposed state, prohibiting slavery. 
This settled the question; Congress passed an enabling act, and Janu- 
ary 29th, 1861, Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state. At 
the same time the seceding states went out. Kansas furnished her 
quota of men to preserve the Union, and did her part bravely. With 
the cessation of strife the state enjoyed an era of prosperity scarcely 
equalled in the history of the nation. Population doubled and quadru- 
pled in an incredibly short space of time, and it soon ranked among 
the leading states of the Union. 

The l)oundaries of the state defined by the admission act of Con- 
gress cut off nearly 40,000 square miles from the west of the territory, 
the western boundary being the 102nd degree of longitude. 

The state is bounded on the east by Missouri, north by Nebraska, 
west by Colorado, and south by the Indian Territory. Contains 82,- 
'080 square miles. , 



4() The Gkeat West. 

The surface is generally undulating, rising gradually from the 
valley of the Missouri 700 feet above sea level to 4,000 feet on the 
western border. Nearly the entire area is a rich prairie co^•ered with 
grass, and almost devoid of timber, the little timber that is found is 
along the streams, and is principally cotton wood, a very poor class of 
timber, having very little if any commercial value. The interior of 
the state has no navigable streams; there are a large number of small 
rivers abounding; in lish, and affordintr sufheient water for stock 
raising, etc. 

The JNIissouri Ttiver on the eastern l)order furnishes navigation for 
about 50 miles along the state. The early settlement of Kansas was 
much aided l)y the possibilities of navigation that this ri^•er afforded, 
several towns being started before the "iron horse" made his apj^ear- 
ance in Kansas. Coal of an inferior quality is found throughout the 
entire eastern portion of the state, comprising an area nearly 17,000 
square miles in extent. A fair quantity of building stone is obtainable 
in almost all portions of the state. JSTone of the precious metals are 
found, however, some of the baser metals are found in limited quanti- 
ties. Immense deposits of salt are found in the central portion of the 
state, notably at Hutchison, Kansas, where at a depth of 300 feet 
a salt deposit has been discovered which appears unlimited, tlie vein 
being more than 300 feet in thickness, and covers quite a large area; 
quite extensive Avorks have been established here, and salt forms one of 
the important industries of the state. Negotiations are pending 
whereby it is believed a strong English company will take hold of this 
property and develop it upon sudi a scale as to mal:c Hutchinson the 
greatest salt producing city in America. 

The climate of Kansas is very pleasant, in winter the Temperature 
rarely falls below zero, and in summer ranges from 80 to 100 degrees, 
even in the warmest Aveather the nights are unusually cool, which 
makes the heat of the day toleral)le. Occasionally severe wind storms 
sweepover the prairies, rarely, however, doing serious harm. 

Wild game was formerly very plentiful, such as deer, elk and 
buffalo, all of which are practically extinct, as far as Kansas is con- 
cerned. Small game, such as ducks, geese, prairie chicken and (piail, 
may be found in their season, and are quite abundant. 

The soil is very rich and yields abundantly of all agricultural pro- 
ducts, where drouth does not interfere, that, however, does not occur 
very frequently, and the state rates one of the best of the T^nion in 
agricultural products. 

In 1.S8G the state produced from 5,812,015 acres, 100,129,000 
bushels of corn, valued at §34,212,240; 1,272,300 acres, 14,556,000 
bushels of Avheat, valued at §8,442,480 from 964.930 acres, 25,516,000 
bushels of oats, valued at SS,201,030; from 99,031 acres, 5,744,000 
bushels of potatoes, valued at §3,733,600; from 1,320,000 acres, 1,- 
884,000 tons of hay, valued at §8,131,200; other field crops, 221,512 



The Gkeat West. 47 

acres, product valued at 11,152,720; a total field product valued at 
162,051,240. 

January 1st, 1888, Kansas contained 724,997 head of horses and 
mules, valued at $49,928,929; 640,081 head of milch cows, valued 
at $14,344,215; 1,583,915 head of oxen and other cattle, valued at 
$32,271,946; 830,139 head of sheep, valued at $1,457,558; 2,377,561 
head of hogs, valued at $13,457,469; a total of 6,156,693 head of 
live stock, valued at $111,460,117, which added to the field products 
makes a total valuation of all farm products aggregating $173,511,357, 

The principal commercial cities of the state are Leavenworth, 
Atchison, Lawrence, Topeka and Wichita. 

Kansas, as much as any other state west of the Mississippi Hiver, 
is deeply interested in the deep harbors on the Texas Gulf coast, and 
in all movements looking to that grand consummation has figured con- 
spicuously, and is ably represented on the permanent Deep Harbor 
Committee by Hon. Howel Jones, of Topeka; Senator A. Caldwell, of 
Leavenworth; Judge J. E. Emery, of Lawrence; Hon. W. E. Hutchin- 
son, and Hon. Marsh M, Mui'dock, of Wichita. 



48 



The Gkea-T "West. 



The following statistics are compiled from the official reports of 
the Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture for the State of Kansas, 
for ten years, sliowiug the number of bushels of grain grown, and 
value of the crop: 



C3 


CORX. 


WHEAT. 


OATS. 


>^ 


Bushels. 


Value. 


Bushels. 


Value. 


Bushels. 


Value. 


1879 


108,701,927 


§26,562,674 


20,550,936 


818,448,711 


13,326,637 


83,397,416 


1880 


101,421,718 


24,926,079 


25,279,881 


20,980,667 


11.483,796 


2,918,689 


1881 


80,760,542 


44,859,963 


20,479,679 


21,705,275 


9,900.768 


3.855,749 


1882 


157,005,722 


51,838,306 


35.734,846 


24.003,820 


21,946,284 


5,706,579 


1883 


182,084,526 


47.492,663 


30,025.936 


22,322,119 


30,987,864 


6,135,788 


1884 


190,870,686 


39,512,734 


48,050,431 


20.516,560 


20,087,294 


5,568,332 


1885 


177,350,703 


40,428,327 


10.772,181 


6,829,945 


31 561,490 


6,558,303 


1886 


139,569,132 


37,966,031 


14,579,093 


8.482,503 


35,777,365 


8,860,603 


1887 


75,791,454 


26,836,422 


9,278,501 


5,759,548 


46,727,418 


12,232,243 


1888 


168,754,087 




16,720,719 




54,665,055 












Toil 


1,382,313,497 


$340,423,259 


231,472,206 


8149,049,147 


276,579,591 


855,293,702 



I hereby certify that the above is correct as taken from tlie official 
reports of this office. 

Dated, Topeka, Kansas, M. Mohler, 

October 30th, 1888. Secretary. 



The following statistics are compiled from the official reports of 
the Secretary of the State Board of ^Agriculture for the state of Kansas, 
for theyear^lSSS: 



Population, 1,518,552. 



Horses 

Mules and Asses, 

Milch Cows 

Other Cattle . . . . 

Sheep 

Swine 



LIVE STOCK, 1888. 

700,723 head. 
92,435 " 
742,639 " 

1,619,849 •' 
402,744 " 

1,433,245 " 



LIVE STOCK, 1887. 

648,037 head 858,323,330 



89,957 
692,858 

1,568,628 
548,767 

1,847,394 



Total No. 1888. 4,991,635 



8,995,700 
13,857,160 
31,372,560 

1,077.534 
12,931,758 

1887, 8126,558,042 



1887, 5,385,641 Value, 

I hereby certify that the above is correct as taken from the official 
reports of this office. 

Dated, Topeka, Kansas, M. Mohler, 

October 29th, 1888. Secretary. 



< 



The Great WesTo 49 



CHAPTER XI. 

WEVADA-1B4B TO 1BB3, 

PRIOR to 1848 Nevada had no white settlements, the only inhabi- 
tants being aborigines; not even a mission had been established 
within the borders of the state. 

In 1848 the United States acquired by treaty with Mexico the 
territory embraced within the limits of the state, together with Cali- 
fornia, Kew Mexico and Utah. The Territory of Nevada was not 
established until 1861, up to that time it was included within the 
Territory of Utah. At that date Nevada contained 17,000 inhabitants, 
attracted thither by the discovery of rich silver mines. The Comstock 
lode, in Storey County, was discovered in 1859, its annual output of 
silver for several years averaged |15,000,000. It made and lost 
fortunes within a short space of time by stock jobbing operations, and 
finally, having practically exhausted the rich ore, the mine was aban- 
doned. At times since, it has been operated on low grade ore, but has 
yielded only insignificant returns. The other principal mines are the 
Consolidated Yirginia, California and Sierra Nevada, two of which 
have been worked to a depth of 2,870 feet, men being able to work at 
that depth not more than an hour or two at a shift. 

The State of Nevada was admitted into the Union in October, 
1864. It is bounded by California on the west, Oregon and Idaho on 
the north, east by Utah, and south by Arizona, contained 110,700 
square miles. The surface is an elevated valley or basin, which 
stretches from the Rocky Mountains to the Sierra Nevada range, inter- 
spersed with mountains of minor importance, and varies in altitude 
from 2,000 to 7,000 feet, average being about 4,000 feet above the sea 
level. Extensive forests are encountered in the mountains, affording 
an abundance of the best pine lumber ; several varieties of pine, spruce 
and fir are the principal growth. No hard wood timber in the state, 
none being found on this slope of the Sierra. A few mountains reach 
the height of 10,000 feet, none above timber line, the very summit 
being covered with a heavy growth of timber. The lumber interest is 
destined to become one of the state's principal industries. The precious 
metal output is still quite large, though insignificant as compared with 
the palmy days early in the '60s. The decrease in that industry has 
caused the agricultural and stock raising interests to receive more 
attention, and while inconsiderable as compared with some of our more 
advanced states, yet its increase and development is an evidence of 
progress, and adds hope to the already substantial worth of the state. 



50 The Great AVest. 

In 1886 there were 192,013 acres in crop, value of product 
amounting to $1,955,280. 

January 1st, 1888, the state contained 47,701 head of horses and 
mules, valued at ^2, 505,098; 18,037 head of milch cows, valued at 
$631,295; 323,400 head of oxen and other cattle, valued at $5,819,648; 
660,996 head of sheep, valued at $1,259,660; and 21,087 head of hogs, 
valued at $111,846; a total of 1,071,221 head of live stock, valued 
at $10,327,547, which, with the lield crops, aggregates $12,282,827, the 
value of farm products January 1st, 1888. 

There are no considerable cities in the state, Virginia City and 
Carson City (the Capital), are the principal ones. The climate is not 
as severe in winter as would be supposed at such an altitude; the 
summers are delightful, and on the whole the climate is regarded as 
very healthy. The educational advantages are very good, comparing 
with equally populous sections in the East. Society averages well, but 
can not be said to compare with adjoining states. 

Nevada should join in the progressive movement for deep harbors 
on the Gulf coast, and ultimately the firm establishment of a '^Western 
Commercial Congress." The Great "^Test must have inter-state recip- 
rocity, a partial success at that has just been accomplished by the 
Grand Inter-state Deep Harbor Convention, which brouglit together in 
Denver, in August last, over 700 delegates from thirteen of the twenty- 
two states and territories west of the Mississippi River. 



The Great West. 51 



CHAPTEE XII. 

NEBRASKA- IB B2 TO IBBE. 

NEBRASKA was included within tliat territory discovered by La. 
Salle in 1682, and by him named Louisiana. This tract was 
purchased from the French by the United States in 1803, and was 
successively a portion of the Louisiana and Missouri Territories up to 
the time that Missouri was admitted as a state, with its present boun- 
daries, in 1821. From 1821 until 1854 it was within the limits of that 
vast unorganized territory, which has since become rich and populous 
states ; we refer to that portion of the United States which lies between 
the Missouri River and the Continental Divide. 

In 1854 Nebraska Territory was organized under Douglas' Kan- 
sas -Kebraska Bill. It extended north to the British line, west to the 
main range of the Rocky Mountains, east to the Missouri River, and 
south to the 40th parallel of north latitude, which included all of 
l^Torth and South Dakota, part of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and 
its present dimensions. In 1863 it was reduced to its present limits, 
the Missouri River on the east, Kansas and Colorado on the south, 
Colorado and Wyoming on the west, and South Dakota on the north. 
The state is 420 miles long by 138 to 207 miles in width, and contains 
in area 76,855 square miles. 

Exclusive of a few soldiers who were stationed in Nebraska to 
protect the overland freight teams, this state, in 1854, contained no 
white settlers, and not until the building of the Pacific railroad was 
there any settlements formed of any consequence; that stimulated im- 
migration to a large extent, but not until Nebraska had been admitted 
as a state did she experience any very decided or rapid increase of 
population. From that time since, the state has progressed with won- 
drous strides, and to-day not less than 1,000,000 people find homes 
within her borders. 

The surface resembles Kansas' gently rolling prairies, beginning 
at the Missouri River, at an altitude of about 800 feet, it rises gradually 
as you proceed westward until, at its western boundary line, it reaches 
an altitude of upwards of 4,000 feet, the ascent being so gradual as to 
be unobservable without the use of an instrument. There are no 
mountains in the state. The Missouri, Platte and Niobrara Rivers 
are the only considerable rivers in the state, the Missouri being navi- 
gable throughout its entire course along the eastern border of the state, 
about 350 miles. The other two extend through the state from the 



52 The Great "West. 

western border to their confluence with "biie Missouri; they are not 
navigable ; their special benefit to the state being their supply of water 
for stock, and in the western section for irrigation. They are sluggish, 
and in no portion of the state have sufficient fall for any considerable 
water power. Their valleys are broad and very fertile, producing an 
abundance of all cereals, and grass for hay grows luxuriantly. The up- 
lands in the eastern portion of the state are almost as productive as the 
rich bottom lands, while the up-lands in the western section furnish 
rich grazing for the many thousand herds of cattle that are ranged 
there. 

The state contains no minerals of commercial value. Coal in small 
quantities and of a very inferior grade has been encountered by boring 
for water in a few loealities. 

A fair quality of building material is found; sand-stone and a soft 
lime-stone, whicli hardens by expt)sure. 

Nebraska has been noted for its immense live stock interests, 
grazing and shipping. Ogallala, on the Union Pacific railroad, was 
for some years the objective railroad point for stuck men, and it is 
estimated that some seasons have witnessed the shipment, east from 
this point, of upwards of 200,000 head of cattle. The numerous rail- 
roads that now extend from the Missouri westward have intercepted 
the inclination to concentrate the great range interests in anyone point, 
and Ogallala has lost nrost of her old time prestige. Kebraska also 
produces many head of hogs per annum, besides vast supplies of grain 

Omaha has become a great cattle, hog and grain market, and is 
fast rivalling her sister city (Kansas City) lower do^vn the Missouri 
River. Here, too, is centered the manufacturing interests of the state, 
which is not inconsideral)le. The other cities of importance are Lin- 
coln (the Capital), Hastings, Grand Island, Fremont, Beatrice and 
Nebraska City. The climate is mild and dry, drought, however, rarely 
affects the crops, owing to the strength of the soil which retains the 
moisture longer than the soil of eastei-n states of the same latitude, and 
in this respect 2>i ebraska is a better state for agricultural pursuits than 
Kansas directly south. The temperature in summer rarely reaches 100 
degrees Far., and in winter it seldom drops below zero. 

In 1886 Kebraska had in crops as follows: 3,87U,123 acres of corn, 
producing 106,129,000 bushels, valued at $21,225,800; 1,579,727 
acres of wheat, producing 17,449,000 bushels, valued at $8,201,030; 
742,051 acres of oats, producing 21,865,000 bushels, valued at $4,- 
154,350; 172,088 acres of barley, producing 3,786,000 bushels, valued 
at $1,173,660; 54,630 acres of potatoes, producing 3,278,000 bushels, 
valued at $1,311,200; 960,000 acres of hay, producing 1,392,000 tons, 
valued at $5,220,000; other field crops, 72,089 acres, valued at $303,- 
480; total value of field crops, 1886, $41,589,520. 

The state contained January 1st, 1888, 454,145 head of horses 
and mules, valued at $34,033,331; 357,202 head of milch cows, 



The Gee at West. 58 

valued at $9,108,651; 1,979,646 head of oxen and other cattle^ 
vahiedat $22,763,600; 422,112 head of sheep, vahied at $852,456; 
2,334,526 head of hogs, vahied at $18,341,813; total, 4,647,630 head 
live stock, valuedat $80,099,851, which added to the Held crops, makes 
a total of farm products January 1st, 1889, aggregating $121,689,317. 

The educational and social advantages of the state are exception- 
ally good, comparing with Illinois or Ohio. 

jNebraska produces a very large surplus of farm products that go 
to foreign markets, exported via New York. Eleven dollars per ton 
could be saved to the producer if facilities were provided for exporting 
via the Texas Gulf coast. An interest has been awakened, as was 
evidenced in the late Inter-state Deep Harbor Convention, wherein 
[Nebraska was represented by a large delegation of distinguished men, 
and is now represented on the Permanent General Committee by Hon. 
Champion S. Chase, of Omaha, Chairman of State Committee; Hon. 
O. E. Goodell, of Lincoln, Secretary; Hon. Herman Kountze, and Hon. 
W. N. i^ason, of Omaha, and the Hon. Joel Hull, of Miuden. 



54 The Great Wesi 



W^ 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

COLORADO 1BB2 TO IBBB. 

^E now come to tlie Centennial State, so called because it was in 
the Centennial year (1876) that the state was admitted to the 
Union. Colorado is the central state of "The Great West," and is 
appropriately the seat of the grand movement for a Western Commer- 
cial Congress, the first session of which was held in Denver, Angust 
28th, 1888, lasting three days, and was designated "The Inter-State 
Deep Harbor Convention." 

The state derived its name from the Colorado Eiver, which river 
was so named owing to the color of the water; Colorado being the 
Spanish for red. The territory embraced within the boundary of the 
state from 102 to 109 degrees west longitude, and from 37 to 41 de- 
gi'ees north latitude. Was originally about equally divided between 
Spain and France, the United States coming into possession of the 
eastern half in 1803, through the great Louisiana Purchase, and the 
western half in 1848, by treaty with Mexico. That portion which was 
included within the Louisiana Purchase was successively a portion of 
Louisiana District (1804), Louisiana Territory (1805), Missouri Terri- 
tory (1812), unorganized until 1854, when it was nearly equally 
divided betM^een Kansas and Nebraska Territories. 

In 1861 the State of Kansas was admitted into the Union, and the 
Territory of Colorado created, including the present boundaries, taking 
in a portion of the Territoi-y of Utah, and some of the Texas cession oi 
1850. The first Governor of the Territory was William Gilpin, a 
pioneer, and sometimes called the founder of Colorado. Wlien he was 
asked what he was doing out this far west, his answer was invariably, 
'^•'oundino- an Empire." While but a phrase, and used more than half 
in jest, the venerable Governor Gilpin is living to-day, and views an 
empire so vast in extent and resources that it promises to outshine the 
whole world besides. (The Governor referred to all that territory west 
of the Mississippi River, there was no Colorado then.) 

Governor Gilpin may be seen any day walking the streets of 
Denver, a hale and hearty old man, esteemed by all. He is sufiiciently 
well off in this M-orld's goods to make him independent. His favorite 
pastime is to visit old acquaintances, and talk over reminiscences of the 
early days of "The Great AVest," or discourse upon his proposed map 
of the M'orld. in which, as he says, he proposes "to blot out the d — m 



The Gkeat West. 55 

Atlantic Ocean from off the face of the earth." The Governor builded 
better than he knew, and the West has outstripped his prophecy, which, 
in 1860, or even fifteen years later, was regarded almost universally as 
the utterances of an enthusiast and incredible. Gradually the day be- 
gan to dawn, and in 1880, the sun began to shine. The day had ar- 
rived when "The Great West" could justly claim to be an Empire; its 
natural products were then balancing the East, (the Mississippi River 
the dividing line), while the center of population was scarcely leaving 
Ohio on its steady march westward. 

Hon. John Evans was the War Governor of Colorado, appointed 
by President Lincoln to succeed Governor Gilpin, and was, therefore, 
the second Governor of the state. Wliile Gov. Gilpin is generally 
called the founder of Colorado, it is universally conceded that Gov. 
John Evans is the father of the state and its greatest benefactor, having 
inaugurated more and greater enterprises than any other citizen of this 
great state. Governor Evans still survives, and is in good health, 
abounding in wealth created by his own energies and successful enter- 
prises. His home is in Denver, where an eight- story stone block, and 
several lesser ones, stand as monuments of his great worth to Colorado. 

"The Star of Empire," attracted by a Colorado sky, and the load- 
stone of western natural wealth, is gradually creeping westward; in 
fact, it might be said to have passed even now to the central state of 
this new empire, and paused to move no more, being unable to pass 
that massive wall which nature has erected Just west of Denver, and 
which extends north and south through the state, dividing it quite 
equally into east and west. This unsurmountable wall is variously 
named, "the Backbone of the Continent," "the Continental Divide," 
''the Water Shed of America," or more properly, "the Rocky Mountain 

Rancre." 
o 

The sources of the streams of Colorado are high up in the moun- 
tains, varying from 10,000 to 12,000 feet above sea level. The North 
Platte and South Platte Rivers, have their source in the north central part 
of the state, only separated by a mountain range; the north fork flows 
out of the state on the north boundary, in a northeasterly direction; 
the south fork flows south and east, the two streams being separated 
where they issue upon the plains by some 300 miles; they approach 
each other until they are united a few miles east of the northeast corner 
of Colorado. The Kansas' and Grand Rivers have their sources near 
the center of the state, and within a few feet of each other ; the Ar- 
kansas flowing south and east to the Mississippi River, and thence into 
the Gulf of Mexico, while the Grand flows west and south into the 
Colorado River, and thence into the Gulf of Lower California. The 
Rio Grande River has its source in the southern part of the state, flows 
almost directly south into the Gulf of Mexico, forming the boundary 
line between Texas and Old Mexico. Thus it will be seen that Colo- 
rado micrht well be termed the central state of "The Great West." 



56 



lEE Gkeat West. 



Colorado's chief industry is mining. Gold was first discovered in 
1859, near Avliere Denver now stands, and every year since tlie precious 
jnetal output has been on the increase. The record for 1887 surpasses 
the first ten years of Colorado mining by some thousands. The fol- 
lowing is a record l)y years from the first discovery up to January 1st, 
1889: 



Year. 


Gold. 


Silver. 


Lead. Copper. 


1859-69 


827,200,000 
2,0(W,000 
2,000,000 
1,725,000 
1,750,000 
2,000,000 
2,150.000 
2.725.000 
3,150,000 
3,500,000 
3,200,000 
3,200,000 
3,300.000 
3,250,000 
4,000,000 
4,300,000 
4,200,000 
4,450,000 
4,500,000 
5,700,000 


8 330,000 

650,000 

1,000,000 

2,000,000 

2,190,000 

3,096,000 

3.125.000 

3,323,000 

3,725,0)0 

6,340,000 

12,375,000 

18,615,000 

17,160,000 

16,600,000 

17,370,000 

16,000,000 

15,300,000 

18,250,000 

16,292,000 

23,500,000 




1870 




8 20,000 


1871 




30,000 


1872 
1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 
1879 
1880 
1881 
1882 
1883 
1884 
1885 
1886 
1887 
1888 


8 5,000 

25,000 

75.000 

60.000 

80,(XT0 

250,000 

625,000 

525,000 

1,675,000 

3,250,000 

4,400,000 

4,100,000 

3,750,000 

3,850.000 

4,675,000 

5,000,000 

5,000,000 


45,000 
65,000 
90,000 
190,000 
170,000 
300,000 
275,000 
315,000 
480,000 
425,000 
520,000 
490,000 
475,000 
450,000 
510,000 
1,000,000 
900,000 


Total . . . 


888,300.000 


8199,792.000 


837.365,000 


86.745.000 



A grand total to January 1st, 1889, of |332,202,000. The first 
quarter of 1889 shows a decided increase over the same time in 1888, 
and, if continued, will place Colorado's metal output for the year close 
on to $50,000,000. Another important and growing industry is the 
petroleum fields being discovered. 



OIL WELLS. 



Oil was first discovered in 1862, near Canon City. No practical 
use was made of it until 1880. "When a well was put down 1,225 feet 
boring for water, at that depth a flow of petroleum was struck, yielding 
about 40 barrels per day; since then about twenty wells have been 
bored, and the daily flow has been increased to 1,000 per day. The 
total output of these wells to date is probably upwards of $2,000,000, 
which, added to tlie coal and metal output, makes $359,202,000. Then 
add the building stone output to date, about $11,000,000, and we have 
the enormous amount of $370,202,000 wealth extracted fi-om the 
mountain regions of Colorado through mining alone, nearly the entire 
amount extracted within the past 20 years. It is almost incredible, but 
nevertheless indisputable figures show it. The iron industry, although 
in its infancy, would probably increase the wealth extracted from Colo- 



The Great West. 57 

rado mountains by nearly or quite $5,000,000, making a grand total o£ 
1375,000,000. 

Colorado combines the essence of wealth which requires nearly all 
of the states east of the Mississippi Eiver united to compare with it. 
In this connection the following regarding the industries of the Great 
West, and of Colorado, will prove interesting to the reader, and may 
induce some idle capital to be invested in the field of industry that this 
Great West offers to the wealth of the East. 

English journals have already conceded that the World's Exchange 
is destined soon to be drawn on New York, rather than London, and 
with the single exception of iron products, the United States have far 
exceeded Great Britain in every staple manufacture; and what is more 
to the point, has almost illimitable resources, yet undeveloped for 
future growth. It is this certain prospect of remunerative industries, 
such as the Standard Oil Co. presents, that is l:)ringing foreign capital 
here for investment in manufacturing and mining industries. For more 
than ten years some thirty alien landlords and foreign syndicates have 
owned over 20,000,000 acres of our arable lands; but now the inquiry is 
for good stone quarries, iron and coal measures, oil lands, tin, mica, and 
copper plants, as well as gold and silver properties, all of which are 
found in abundance in Colorado. Wliere the great metal deposits are, 
there must the furnaces come, the foundries be opened, and the pro- 
duct worked to its highest commercial form. The West will excel in 
the manufacture of woolen goods, as the South must in the- merchan- 
dise of cotton fibre. And the sugar and rice of Southern commerce 
will be met by such vast Western values in lumber and metal products 
as the world's market never saw before, from Puget Sound to the Gulf ; 
such a highway of riches wall yet annually pour, as will heavily tax 
our freight ships' bottoms to carry. Men and money are all the ele- 
ments required to effect more than any mercantile prophet can now 
foresee. 

Already in the markets of the world American calicoes and 
cutlery successfully compete in price with the British; while our 
wheat, cotton, meat and lumber make the price for all other countries 
in similar staples. But the day of l)ulky export of raw products must 
soon merge into a brighter one, when the American artisan and mill 
shall convert the bulk of our crude material and crops into the highest 
commercial form for inter- state and inter-national export, and multiply 
our sixty billion dollars worth of United States exchange in 1888, into 
one hundred billion dollars, and more by 1892, with such overwhelming 
advantage to American production, that the French, Belgian and 
English chemist, mechanic and manufacturer will l)e forced,^ from 
self-interest, to emigrate hither, and combine his skilled labor with our 
material resources. American industries are not exactly in their in- 
fancy, needing an exhorbitant tariff to protect them; but a better 
eco-nomy is requisite in their manipulations. Raw products must be 



58 The Great AVest. 

taken, as near as possible, to tlieir original site, and manufacturinor 
facilities applied. The eastern states now having a monopoly of home 
manufactures, so called, may object to this, but the Middle and West- 
ern states, especially the latter, are sure to win in this controversy, 
even as Southern cotton mills have proposed paying 20 to 30 per cent, 
dividend annually, where In ew England factories could scarcely net 5 
per cent; so the Great West, with her boundless cheap food supplies 
and unlimited deposits, will bring the wool, stone, lumber and metal 
workers of the world eventually to develop her quarries, forests and 
mines. Other things being equal, the land that has the largest land- 
crops and smallest population is ahead in the race for independence. 
Our population is from sixty-three to sixty-four millions, and our 
agricultural, forest and live stock products of all kinds amount annu- 
ally to about nine billion dollars worth; this is about $140 to every 
man woman and child. No other country is so well fed and has so 
much food products for export. Kowhere is the class of high livers 
so large. No other nation eats seven hundred millions in animal 
food alone annually. Our average citizen buys daily in meat 22 
cents' worth, of bread 5 cents' Avorth, and in coffee, tea, sugar, fruit 
and vegetables, 9 cents' worth. 

The population of the globe is carefully estimated at very nearly 
fifteen hundred millions, no hundred millions of that number are 
living upon such a wonderful area for productive resources as are the 
citizens of the United States. According to the brilliant and eccentric 
Ex-Gov. Gilpin, of Colorado, "we straddle the axis of the temperate 
zone;" and we certainly have developed during the past one hundred 
years as no country within the zone has. Asia has yet four-sevenths 
of the earth's population, about 52 to the square mile, and many 
millions periodically stai-ving. 

Europe has one -fifth of the earth's population, and most of them 
poorly nourished, and thousands half starved. She is crowded with a 
population of nearly 90 to the square mile, and represents the extremes 
of poverty and wealth, as no other country does. 

Africa has one-seventh of the earth's population, or about 17 to 
the square mile. Two hundred and fifteen cities of the world number 
over 100,000 population each; thirty number over 500,000; the most 
populous in the order named, being London, Paris, New York, Vienna, 
Berlin and Canton; each a million and upwards; the great British 
metropolis swarming with four and a half millions, all but half a mil- 
lion or them pauperized to a greater or less degree. 

Wliat wonder then that the tides of emigration to our country are 
so larcre, or that the proper advertising of the Great West and her ad- 
vantages should be regai'ded as philauthropy upon the broadest scale. 



The Great West, 59 

Every state and territory west of the Mississippi River, except eight, 
being watered by streams which have their sonrce within this state. 
The fall is very 3'apid in these streams; waterfalls and rapids are 
common, and the water in its mad course has, in past ages, worn deep 
channels in aud through the mountains, which cuts or canons often 
measnre from 1,0;)0 to 2,000 feet in perpendicular depth. The most 
notable probivbly of all being the Grand Canon of the Arkansas, which 
canon has been compelled to yield to the almost superhuman skill of 
the civil engineer, and the whistle of the locomotive of that great pio- 
neer railroad, the Denver <& Rio Graiide, is heard in shrill discord with 
the music that has been made for thousands of years by the laughing, 
sparkling waters of the noted Arkansas,. The wonderful engineering 
feats performed in this grand canon are only equalled by the same 
enterprising railroad in building their line over Marshall Pass, Yeta 
Pass and the line through the Black Canon of the Gunnison River. 
Much praise is due the Denver & Rio Grande management for the 
rapid development of Colorado and her mineral resources. It is the 
greatest narrow gauge system in the world. The third rail is being 
put down, and standard gauge cars can be run over much of the 
system. 

The extensive irrigation system of Colorado is due entirely to the 
rapid fall of streams, and their everlasting supply of water taken from 
the perpetual snow banks high up in the mountains above timber line. 
The Platte and Arkansas Rivers fall several thousand feet from their 
source before emerging upon the plains, and through considerable of 
their course they flow through large parks, or valleys, several miles in 
extent, which have only a slight fall, consequently tne average fall for 
40 to 50 miles would be 200 feet per mile. The power capable of being 
developed by water wheels in these two streams alone would siiffice to 
turn the wheels of e\-ery factory in Xew England. The day is approach- 
ing when electric wires will be utilized to distribute this power equit- 
ably throughout the state, to dri \'e the loom and spindle of the cloth 
manufactnrers which are sure to be established sooner or later, where 
raw material is cheap and native to the soil; where power can be sup- 
plied at a minimum of cost, and where consumption is greater per 
capita (owing to the nature of employment, mining) than any other 
people on earth. All of these are concentrated in Colorado. The state 
produces annually over 10,000,000 ponnds of wool, every pound of 
Avhicli, if manufactured here, would go rapidly into home consumption. 
The greatest cotton state in the Union joins us on the south, viz., 
Texas, which for lack of cheap power must export her entire crop. 
Add to the above the boot aud shoe indnstry, the same conditions 
govern cheap leather, taniied with a native weed, said to be superior to 
any other tanning material in America. Here, too, are hides almost 
without number, taken from the hundreds of thousands of cattle 
marketed per annum. Cheap water power obtainable, and cheap fuel 



Go The Great West. 

if preferred, coal as low as 80c. to $1 per ton, owing to proximity of 
mines. Cheap fuel has stimulated the iron and smelting industries of 
state to a "wonderful degree. Side by side with the best grades of 
iieatiug and cooking coal in this state lies immense iron deposits, suffi- 
cient in amount to supply the world for a century, and coal to manu- 
facture the same, beside furnishing the world with coal for heating and 
manufacturing purposes for a thousand years to come. Hayden's sur- 
vey for the United States Government developed the fact several years 
ago, that Colorado contained 80.000 square miles of coal area, veins 
varyincr in tliickness from 3 or 4 feet to 14 feet in thickness, often ten 
or iifteen veins lying one above the other, with only a tliin shale be- 
tween, and varying in quality from common lignite to the best bitu- 
ininous and cooking coals, and in quite a large area anthracite coal, 
unsurpassed by the famous Pennsylvania hard coal. Hayden's survey 
defined the coal limits then known; subsequent developments and dis- 
coveries have proven that Hayden overlooked the small amount of 10,- 
000 additional square miles of coal area in tlie state, of equally as good 
if not better quality of product than was included Avithin the 80,000 
square miles establishea by his survey. 

TVe quote from tlie March number of the Commonwealth extracts 
from an article by Alfred Dexter, which will pi'ove of considerable 
interest in connection with Colorado's coal interests: 

OUR COAL measures. 

'•Xo more conspicuous example than the State of Pennsylvania 
can be found showing the wealth in coal mining. Next to food and 
raiment, shelter and fuel are necessaries of daily life, and the state that 
has coal })i-oducts in all-sulficient abundance, both for home consump- 
tion and export, is sure of a royal revenue therefrom. Pennsylvania 
has long been on record as producing half the coal mined in the United 
States ; but it is now oflicially announced that the area of the coal beds 
of Colorado is nearly e(pial to the entire territory of the Keystone State, 
cr fully 40,000 square miles. Meager as are our appliances for getting 
the product out and to market, yet the output for 1888 was between 
2,000,000 and 8,000,000 tons ; and it is rationally asserted that this state 
has de])osits sufiicient to supply the increasing population of the entire 
Union for centuries to come. 

"One hundred years ago, and Pennsylvania stood only third in 
point of population ; but 50 years past she has ranked easily as second 
— Xew York, of course being first. Pennsylvania ranks first in coal 
and petroleum, iron and steel; second in rye, buckwheat and potatoes, 
also in printing and publisliing Aalues; third in milcli-kine, hay, and 
also in soap manufacture and in railroad-lines mileage; fourth in to- 
bacco and oats; fifth in malt and distilled liquors, and in the manu- 
facture of silk goods; sixth in the production of salt and copper, and 



The Great West, 61 

the same in agricultural implements; and eighth in the breeding 
horses and sheep. 

She produces about 5,000,000 tons of pig iron annually, and fully 
50,000,000 of tons of coal, which certainly must mean as many millions 
of dollars yearly revenue. In these immense resources of diversilied 
and staple values, Pennsylvania, more than any other state, is the pro- 
totype of the Centennial State; and in no feature so particularly like 
this as in her great coal fields. 

Great Britain still yields double the quantity of coal produced in 
the United States, and over one-half the product of the world, and 
holds very nearly the same superiority in its annual output of pig-iron. 
Without her coal resources England could never have* so excelled in 
iron and steel values produced, and the logic of like conditions there 
must bring the same results finally to Colorado. For, in addition to 
coal, iron and tin, this state will find her home market largely in the 
endless and constantly increasing local industries involved in the re- 
duction of metal and coin of our precious ores. And to secure this 
end most successfully we import nothing, but find all the necessary 
elements within the state. 

With the past fifteen years Colorado has made an output of 13,- 
000,000 of tons of coal, at the very minimum estimate; and this has 
figured immensely in the economy of her aggregate production of gold, 
silver and base bullion products during that time, which products 
very considerably exceed |330,000,000 in value. 

As illustrated by the cases cited of iron and steel production in 
England and Pennsylvania, so, through the fuel possibilities of this 
modern Aladdin, coal, we have transformed seemingly barren and 
worthless mountain rock into the shining and perpetual tokens of com- 
merce, by which the barter of the world's merchandise is effected, 

It is undeniable that in estimating the great natural resources of 
Colorado, her coal fields, which range throughout an area of about 
100,000 square miles, and comprise coal-bearing strata of 40,000, must 
ever stand among the first and most important certainly known; and 
these figures are likely to be exceeded, rather than cut down, by devel- 
opments constantly being made. 

The working veins run on an average six feet in thickness, at the 
cost of mining at present is from $1 to ^2 per ton, according to locality 
and conditions. 

According to the following statement Colorado coal, at the mines, 
is worth $2.29 per ton, a very handsome figure wdien compared with 
Ohio coal, but still admitting of a favorable comparison with Pacific 
Coast coal, Tlie figures doubtless may be accepted when apportioned 
among the mines, but would scarcely hold good if tonnage was taken 
as a basis. In nearly all the leading producing districts, good coal at 
the mines can be secured at from 75 cents to ^1.25 per ton, the price 
at Trinidad varying from 50 cents to $1.00 per ton. 



(32 



The Great "West. 



PRODUCTION OF COAL IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1888. 



States and Territories. 



Pennsylvania, 
Anthracite. . 
Bituminous. 

Ohio 

Illinois 

AVest Virginia . . 

Iowa 

Maryland 

Indiana 

Missouri 

Kentucky 

Alabama 

Tennessee 

Colorado 

Kansas 

Wyoming 

Virginia 

Washington 

Indian Territory- 
New Mexico 

Georgia 

Utah 

Arkansas 

Texas 

Michigan 

California 

Oregon 

Dakota 

Montana 

Rhode Island . . . 

Nebraska 

Idaho 



Quantity Short. 
Toils. 



43,578,000 

32,500,000 

11,950,000 

11,855,188 

5.198,81X) 

4,812,220 

3,179,170 

3,110,979 

3.909,967 

2,570,000 

2,900,00:) 

1.907,297 

2.185,477 

1.850,000 

1,480,487 

1.073,000 

1.215,750 

891,000 

635,042 

230,000 

205,000 

193,000 

90,000 

05,000 

85,000 

50,000 

25,000 

41,467 

7,500 

1,.500 

600 



Value at Mines. Per Ton, 



$84,977,100 

30,875,000 

11,114,000 

11,309.030 

6,048,680 

6,304,110 

3,293,070 

4,397,370 

8,650,000 

3.084,000 

3,335,000 

2,104,026 

4,808.049 

2,775,CKH) 

4,811,583 

1,073,000 

3,647,250 

1,737,450 

2,063,887 

345.000 

430,500 

289,500 

184,500 

104,01)0 

.340.000 

150,000 

43,750 

155,;501 

17,875 

3,375 

2.700 



81 95 
95 

93 

1 12 
1 10 
1 30 

95 

1 40 

2 21 
1 20 
1 15 

1 10 

2 29 
1 50 

3 25 



00 
00 
95 
25 
50 
2 10 

1 50 

2 05 
1 60 
4 00 

3 00 

1 75 

3 75 

2 75 
2 25 

4 50 



The Great West. 63 

colorado industries. 

The story of tlie cranky old Bay State farmer, who had a son 
graduate from Harvard College, at an expense of thousands of dollars, 
and on the return home of the expensive hopeful, bluntly asked him 
at the dinner table: Wall, John, what's the good of all your larniiiT' 
"What kin ye make?" is a good story for Colorado; till lately the 
youngest of states, and richest naturally in variety and value of crude 
products ; but what can she make out of them ? Our worthy Labor 
Commissioner, and the Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, have 
displayed a good deal of well-directed activity in collecting much accu- 
rate information from year to year, concerning our already established 
manufacturing institutions: also, the occupations followed by our 
working classes, male and female ; number of hours employed ; wages 
by day and piece work ; expense of board or housekeeping ; sanitary 
condition of their dwellings, etc., etc. ; but still the cry comes up from 
the ranks of the unemployed: "Who will give us work? What can we 
earn? and at what?" and while this mountain air sharpens the appe- 
tite, promotes digestion, and run^ the nervous system at a higher rate 
of speed, food is its nutritious fuel, and labor must be in harness to 
obtiiin it. Eastern workmen and their families are coming by the 
thousands from their over-crowded conditions there to this land so 
highly reputed for health, and with so many industries to institute and 
develop. Fortunate will it be for us as a state if sufficient capital 
shall come with the skilled labor, and which will turn aside and occupy 
the favorable sites for maunfacturing, to be found here on the right 
hand and the left, and so materially add to our practical and revenue- 
bearing productions. Arizona copper waits to be compounded with 
Colorado aluminum for bell metal. Steel cutlery and tools, axles and 
springs should be made to supply carriage works with material for 
further manufacture, and the public generally with home products. 
Window glass and household wares of that crystal material have been 
made here to a small extent, but have not been encouraged as they 
should have been in a country that has the superabundant and superior 
character of sillica deposits that Colorado has. All our own consump- 
tion of clay, iron, lead, water and gas, and oil piping, should be sup- 
plied from and through our own manufacture, with tens of thousands 
of car loads for export throughout the adjacent states and territories. 
Bronze and spelter founders and moulders should find welcome con- 
ditions here for the prosecution of their specialties. The City of New- 
ark, ]Sr. J., has a surplus of those who are perfectly familiar with all 
the diversified industries that may be based upon these metals. 

We have for years been advocating the establishment of oil, paint 
and glass works here, which should employ the native mineral paint 
rock which lies in immense deposits throughout the state. One local 
manufacturer is worth to a city a dozen mere merchants in foreign 



64 The Gee at "WfesT, 

productions. A better field for a large leather tanning mannfactorv 
than this is was never known in this or any other country ; for tanning, 
for tawing, for coloring and setting the dyes with mordants in the 
shortest possible time, and in the most effective way. 

The reports made from time to time on the'kaolin and kindred 
deposits about Canon City, and other points in Colorado, have had the 
result of interesting eastern pottet-y manufacturers to investigate, and 
having done so to their satisfaction, we may- expect from correspon- 
dence had, that branch manufactories will be eventually established 
here, and certain it is that Avith practical management they can sustain 
themselves with very handsome profits. A company should be able 
to put up a series of two and three story buildings in which to do all 
the fine finish and decorative work in the best modern style of the art, 
with a proportion of four decorating kilns, to eight burning kilns, and 
take the highest standard of porcelain and semi-porcelain for the 
products. 

There is also large profits in manufacturing sanitary earthenware, 
and which consists of all the goods entering into the plumber's trade. 
Ordinary brick can also be faced with one porcelain side, so that when 
laid in a wall with porcelain face exposed, like it should be in hotel 
courts, or naturally dark passage ways, the light reflected from the 
porcelain surface would illumine the spaces. 

Our iron casting works should comprise every form of iron ma- 
chinery that could be utilized in this western country, and aft'ordeu at 
E rices that would dismay eastern competitors; not only engines and 
oilers, but cold rolled shafting, and pullies of every size, hangers to 
suit; presses and dies to cut sheet metal patterns of every thickness, 
and stamp out pressed metal goods of every description ; machinery to 
work as clay and pottery presses, plungers, shakers, agitators, pressure 
pumps, and every appliance for turning out glass and color paints. 

Nowhere throughout the most fertile districts of the world does a 
dairy country exist so thoroughly equipped by natural conditions of 
grasses, water springs, cool nights, bright sunny days the year round, 
and better grazing facilities than exist in the Colorado series of valleys, 
from the lampa Valley, in Routt County, bearing due south, to the 
line of New Mexico, and into the valley of the Cliama Kiver, N. M. ' 
The dairy products of the United States are of nearly a billion dollars 
annual values; and Colorado, for butter and cheese factories, should 
come towards, if not at the very front at once. 

IRRIGATION, BY F. L. DANA. 

This brings us to a subject of more than usual importance — that 
of irrigation. Very little can be added to the article written by the 
author of this work, and published in the February 4th, 1888, issue of 
the "Exchange Journal,'" except the system is still more extended. We 
quote from it as follows: 



The Great West. 65 

According to the Constitution of the State, the waters of the rivers 
and streams are the property of the public, and while every person has 
a right, within certain statutory limitations and restrictions, to as much 
water as he can consume, and not interfere with rights previously ac- 
quired by others ; yet he has no right, neither can he claim more water, 
than he can consume. 

In the older irrigation districts, the irrigation of hfty acres of land 
is taken as the standard duty of a continuous flow of one cubic foot of 
water per second during the irrigation season of 100 days. In other 
districts traversed by larger canals the standard has been raised to sixty 
acres per cubic foot par second, which is equal to an annual rainfall of 
about twelve feet. After two or three years, when the soil becomes 
thoroughly saturated and settled, the duty of the water grows greater, 
and, j udging from the history of older countries, the continuous flow 
of one cubic foot of water per second for the irrigating season will be 
sufficient to irrigate 120 acres. It is almost incredible that water in 
some of our main canals has a fall of only six inches in one mile, and 
the carrying capacity of one we have in our mind — the Citizen's canal, 
near Del Norte, is 1,000 cubic feet per second. The Del Norte canal, 
probably the largest in the United States, has a carrying capacity of 
over 2,500 cubic feet per second. It is 65 feet wide at the bottom and 
98 feet wide at the top, carries water five and a half feet deep, and for 
some distance has a fall of 30 feet per mile. This canal is 56 miles 
long (main canal) ; it cost over $300,000, and irrigates over 50,000 
acres of land. There were 1,750,000 cubic yards of gravel, rock and 
earth excavation to form the channel, requiring 3,500 men and 2,000 
teams to perform the great task, wdiich was completed in the unprece- 
dented short period of four months. The largest canal in Italy — the 
Naviglio ^-rande — is only half as large as the Del Norte canal, cost 
more than 112,000,000. 

By practical experience the cost of construction of canals in Colo- 
rado varies from 75 cents to $2 per acre, and makes land, otherwise 
practically worthless, worth from |50 to $100 per acre; such land, 
however, is on the market at from $10 to $100 dollars per acre. 

The art of irrigation is older than history, and is extensively 
practiced in every country of the world, and yet in the United States 
it is scarcely understood, except in Colorado ; here we know its beauties 
and utility. About twenty-five years ago a few persons turned their 
attention from gold hunting to the more profitable industry of agricul- 
ture, and were forced by the scanty fall of rain to adopt the irrigation 
system, which proved a blessing in disguise. Many of our w^ealthy 
citizens laid the foundation for their present millions in the early 
pioneer days by tilling the soil without contending with drought or 
failure, and alternately supplicating and imprecating Divine Provi- 
dence, as Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, and most of the eastern, middle and 
western states have been doing these many years. A farm of 20 acres 



66 The Gkeat AVest. 

in Colorado "under ditch'' is as capable of sustaining a family as 160- 
acres in Illinois or "Indiana; then why do farmers of moderate means re- 
main in a drought- stricken, cyclone-ridden, pestilential and malarial 
section of the United States, when Colorado offers health, wealth and 
happiness? A climate unsurpassed by even Italy. A health-giving 
atmosphere with the zej)hyrs laden with ozone from the highly electri- 
fied pine and spruce covered mountains; protected from the blizzards 
by the same mountains; a country that for the fifteen years last past 
had an average annual temperature of 49.5 degrees; average annual 
wind velocity of 6.3 miles per hour; average annual rainfall, 14.98 
inches; average annual number of sunny days, 345, only 32 days in 
thirteen years (July 20th, 1872, to February 22d, 1885.) that the sun 
was not visible, and within that time, from October 30tli, 1879, to 
February 5th, 1881, fifteen months, the sun was not obscured all of 
one day; average death rate, 10.5 per 1,000 inhabitants, 5 per cent, of 
the deaths are consumptives who have come here too late for the 
climate to do anything for them. We have transgressed somewhat 
our subject in our zeal to picture Colorado's ad^^antage climatically. 
To recur to our subject. The first efforts at irrigation in Colorado 
were of necessity very crude and less effective than the improved sys- 
tems in vogue to-day. About one-fourth of the water of the streams 
the state is now appropriated, and the system is said to have redeemed 
of from two io three million acres of land, which means that with the 
present water supply, we can hope to redeem at least ten million acres 
of land, and with the proposed reservoir system to be instituted, we can 
treble the present capacity of our streams. "We have in this state 
lands on the Divides, and adjoining the Foot-hills, and in the Foot- 
hills that do not require irrigation, the precipitation is sufiicient f or all 
purposes, and on our eastern border three successive crops have just 
been raised without irrigation. This will foot up in the millions of acres 
in all within our state, either in the rainbelt or capable of irrigation. 
This state has nearly 25,000,000 acres of such land, which would form 
an agricultural area nearly as large as the entire agricultural state of Illi- 
nois, nearly one-half of which is capable of sustaining a population, per 
acre, several times in the excess of the acreage of Illinois, and the rest at 
least as much, and it is fair to presume that the time is near approaching 
when Colorado will be more populous than Illinois, even viewed from an 
agricultural standpoint. Added to that, its mountains of gold, silver, 
copper, lead, zinc, iron and coal, natural gas and oil, which will require 
a million of population to develop, and furnish a home market for the 
agriculturist who inhabits the land which produces most abundantly. 
The soil is naturally warm, being rich sand and gravel, and with the 
assistance of a small amount of water, grows in equal or greater abun- 
dance any crop or fruits that can be raised in any state in the Union, 
except those states bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, or Southern 
California. 



The Gee at West. 67 

The following is an estimate of tlie number of miles of ditches 
constructed in Colorado, and of the number of acres irrigated thereby ; 
this estimate is made from the reports of Water Commissioners of 
Water District 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8, These reports were made at the re- 
quest of the State Engineer, for the purpose of securing data from 
which to determine the duty of Avater, and will be required of all the 
Water Commissioners of the State next year. Five out of nine Districts 
in Division 1, report as follows: 

District JN'o. 2. miles of ditches 126.25; acres irrigated 43.998. 
" '- 3. " " 330.5; - '^ 107.045. 

" ^' 4. " " 235.75; " " 69.908. 

>' '' 5. " " 225.5; " '' 86.655. 

« " 8. " " 121.5; " '' 32.010. 

Estimated in Division 'No. 1, 1,532 miles of ditches, 506,000 acres. 
Estimated for the state, 3,000 miles of ditches, and 2,000,000 acres 
being; irrigated. 

From reports of Prof. Blount, of the State Agricultural College, 
we quote some of the experiments made during 1887, on the state 
farm, which farm is probably kept in better order than the average 
farms in the state, and allowance should be made therefor: 

Buckwheat, average 33 bushels per acre; barley, 31 varieties, 
averaging 30 to 60 bushels per acre; oats, 47 varieties, range from 15 
up to 101 bushels per acre; wheat, 12 varieties, averaging from 16 to 
32 bushels per acre ; all vegetables grow here in the greatest abundance, 
likewise all small and large fruits not tropical. No record of fruits or 
vegetables appear in Prof. Blount's December report. 

It is safe to say, however, that fruits and vegetables of every 
variety, except tropical, are raised here in as great abundance as any- 
where in the United States. Colorado vegetables command a premium 
wherever marketed. Not one-tenth of the fruit used in the state has 
been raised here; prices are exceedingly good, and the fruit and berry 
culture is prohtable, and will be continued until the home market is 
supplied. 

Tlie states immediately east of Colorado are as much interested in 
this subject of irrigation as is Colorado,* not because they should use 
the irrigation system, but it has been practically demonstrated that 
eastern Colorado has benefited from the irrigating system in use nearer 
the mountains; it comes from moisture in the air, caused by the 
evaporation made possible by the water — 4,320,000,000 cubic feet in 
24 hours — being spread over millions of acres of ground. Nearly 40 
per cent of that vast volume of water is evaporated, and comes down 
on Eastern Colorado, Western Kansas and Nebraska in the shape of 
rain, which nature distributes in such an equitable manner as to make 
fertile millions of acres of land, hitherto known as the arid desert 

*See Major Powell's Report in Appendix, for page see Index. 



68 " The Great AVest, 

region. The west lialf of Kansas and Kebraska can thank Colorado 
for their fertility, and their comparative exemption from drouglit. 
The extension of the Colorado irrigating system by the proposed 
reserv^oirs will not only exempt Kansas and jS^ebraska from droughty 
but will exempt the Lower Mississippi and Mississippi Valley States 
from the damaging and dangerous floods known as the June rise in 
the rivers. The June rise in the Missouri and Mississippi is due 
wholly to the melting snows in the mountain regions coming down at 
that time, and no provision being made to store it. The United States 
Government* should appropriate the necessary money to successfully 
control the torrents of the mountains, to spread a bounteous blessing 
over the arid region of the United States, and avert the calamities 
usual in the Lower Mississippi during the June rise of the Father of 
Waters. It would appear that from our estimates, that during 100 
days (the irrigating season) of the summer, there is carried to our 
eastern borders, by means of clouds formed from the evaporation Tisual 
during that period, from the irrigation section of Colorado, about 1,- 
728,000,000 cubic feet of water per day, or the enormous amount of 
172,800,000,000 cubic feet in 100 days, sufficient water to be equal to 
a rainfall of 36 inches per annum, covering an area of 4,000,000 acres. 
With the present water supply, if properly controlled and cared for 
during the remaining period of 265 days of the year (the volume of 
water being nearly twice as great out of the irrigating season as in it) 
would increase the irrigated section by 330 per cent., or about 10,000,- 
000 acres in total; that would then increase the amount of water 
evaporated equal to four times the present amount, or the amount of 
water possible to have evaporated from the waters of the state by the 
storage system would amount to the incredible sum of 691,200,000,000 
cubic feet, or sufficient water to equal an annual rainfall of 36 inches spread 
over 16,000,000 acres. The amount is hardly comprehensible, and to 
simplify the figures, it would amount to a column of water in height 
of one and three-fifth miles, covering one section of land of 610 acres. 
The extension of the irrigation system in Colorado may be some- 
what gauged by the number of plats of new ditches filed with the State 
Engineer since July 17th, 1887, being 210 in six months, or 33 per 
month. That is a greater number than was filed from the early settle- 
ment of the state to July last. The present year promises nearly as 
great extensions, j- and the good work is expected to continue until every 
drop of water of the state has been made to perform its duty in the de- 
velopment of this great state. In the San Luis Valley there is said to 
be 50,000 acres of the best prairie land under ditch that is awaiting 
the homesteader and pre-emptor, and many thousands of acres that is 
not under ditch at present, but can be brought under by the construe- 

*Se6 Major Powell's Report in Appendix, for page see Index. 
fDuring 1888 the number of new ditches filed amounted to 611, at a rate of 51 
I)er month, exceeding our prediction of a month ago. 



\ The Great West. 69 

tion of other canals. The Colorado Land and Loan Company own the 
two great ditches that irrigate this vast fertile valley, containing nearly 
7,000 square miles. They own some 80,000 acres, a large portion 
being cultivated, that they offer for sale at from $5 to $10 per acre, 
and charge for water for either their lands or homestead properties 
under their ditch $1 per acre per annnm, which is eqnal to an insur- 
ance of the most abundant crops. Wliat fanner in Illinois or any 
other Eastern state wonld not give $5 per acre per annnm to be in- 
sured a large crop each year. All crops raised in Colorado have a 
liome market. There is not one cereal raised in tlie state that sup- 
plies the home demand and only three vegetables that approaches the 
demand, these are the potato, cabbage and celery; these three vegeta- 
bles are sliipped to Eastern markets, and are celebrated for their excel- 
lent qualities. No celery or cabbage in the United States approaches 
our product. We ship cabbage loose in the cars as far as St. Louis 
without injury. Our celery finds its way to the best hostelries in 
New York City and other Eastern cities. 

The Committee of the Ileal Estate Exchange, appointed to inves- 
tigate our vegetable and canning facilities and demands, reported that 
our three factories put up last season 20,000 cases of tomatoes and 
25,000 cases of other vegetables, al)out one-third of the quantity ac- 
tually sold in Denver. Tomatoes brought seventy-tive cents per 
100 lbs. Dealers expect to shave that price a little this season, prob- 
ably to about sixty cents per 100 lbs. ; even at that price the producer 
is well repaid. One person, from one-half acre near Denver, raised 
the almost incredible amount of 22,000 ll)s of tomatoes, at the rate of 
$330 per acre. 

In connection with the foregoing, written over one year before 
the State Engineer's report, it will be interesting to follow how 
closely they compare, and for that purpose we introduce here the 
preface to the last biennial report by State Engineer J. S. Green: 

A brief reference to the physical features of Colorado, to her 
rapid development in irrigation matters, and to the governing doctrine 
in her irrigation laws, may not be a improper preface to this report. 

Situated on both sides of the Continental Divide, and including 
many ranges of a secondary order, Colorado presents a most diversiiied 
surface of mountains, plains and valley lands, aggregating in area 
some 66,560,000 acres, not five per centum of which is void of vege- 
tation, and more than half of which will, in return for the quickening 
qualities of water, yield the most abundant harvests. 

To secure this water, Colorado rears the summits of her ipoun- 
tains to the clouds, and solicits and receives therefrom the rain and 
snow from which she feeds the great rivers, which, grouping their 
sources in the center of her boundaries, course thence to the north 
and south, the east and west, inviting in every direction that union 
with the soil wdiich it is the province of man to effect and profit by. 



The Great West 



In the early territorial days it was the [Mexican population of the 
south which purchased from the thirsty soil its birthright for a little 
water. This water was conveyed to the land in small channels, irreg- 
ular in section, fall and alignment. These channels were seldom car- 
ried above the highest level of the low bottom lands immediately ad- 
joining the streams, and usually wound around the toe of the slope of 
the hitvli adjacent lands. From these humble constructions, with but 
a few square feet of cross-section, step by step, with the advent into 
the state of each increment of energy, skilled labor and wealth, Colo- 
rado has seen her irrigating canals multiply in numbers, and with 
more and more perfection of construction, develop into great channels, 
some of which carry a body of water 70 feet wide and feet deep, far 
out onto the rich mesa lands. 

Since that period when the pioneers found within the confines of 
Colorado, but a few miles of irrigating ditches, and, at the most, but 
several thousand acres of cultivated lands, three decades are draM'ing 
to a close; but such has been the progress of irrigation development 
in the state during that period, that water in 4,000 miles of ditches, 
holding sway over 2,000,000 of acres of lands, is accounted to its 
credit. 

That energy wdiich has accomplished so much seems undimin- 
ished in strength and purpose, and to aim at no less an achievement 
than the economic use of all of the waters of the state in the irrigation 
€f lands. How much land can then be irrigated? is an unsolved 
problem. There enter into the consideration thereof so many un- 
known quantities and variable functions, that it is carried beyond the 
sphere of calculation. The only solution of the problem would seem 
to be a practical one; yet year by year, as irrigation statistics are 
gathered and assimilated, the estimates of the area of land which can 
eventually be brought under cultivation will the more nearly ap- 
proach the truth. As perhaps of interest in them>selves, as well as in- 
dicative that the supply of water in Colorado is sufficient, if made to 
supplement properly the rain-fall, to bring under cultivation no incon- 
siderable portion of the lands of the state, the following facts are pre- 
sented, prefaced by the statement, however, that though drawn from 
the best sources of information attainable, they can only, with one or 
two exceptions, be considered as close approximations to the truth, 
and are only called facts by courtesy. As the waters falling west of 
the Continental Divide cannot, to any considerable extent, be brought 
to the east thereof, the portions of the state separated by the Divide, 
offer separate problems for consideration. 

On the west of the Continental Divide it is found: 

That the area of mountain lands is 16,360,000 acres. 

That the mean annual precipitation over that area is 33 inches. 

That the area of plateaus and rollinj? and valley lands is. . .9,4:00,000 acres. 

That the mean annual precipitation over that area is 10.70 inches. 



I 



The Great West. 71 

That the total area is 25,760,000 acres. 

That the mean annual precipitation would average for that area. .25 inches. 

On the east of the Continental Divide it is found: 

That the area of mountain lands is 10,200,000 acres. 

That the mean annual precipitation over that area is 30 inches. 

That the area of plains and rolling and valley lands is 30,600,000 acres. 

That the mean annual precipitation over that area is 15 inches. 

That the total area is 40,800,000 acres. 

That the mean annual precipitation would average for that area . 18.7 inches. 

Let it be considered in connection with tlie areas east of the Con- 
iinental Divide, and with the precipitation thereover, that the limit of 
remunerative farming, without irrigation, is drawn at an annual pre- 
-cipitation of 22 inches; that the quantity of water passing through 
the canons of the Cache la Poudre River, as measured by this depart- 
ment in the year 1884, was equivalent to a precipitation of 13.367 
inches over the entire water-shed of that stream above its canon; that 
the total precipitation over that water- shed, though not exactly known 
for that year, was about 33.4 inches; that about 40 per centum, then, 
of the snow and rain-fall over the water-shed of the Cache la Poudre 
River above the canon, flowed through the canon of that stream and 
was available for irrigation direct, or for storage for irrigation ; that the 
application of this deduction to the precipitation over the entire area of 
the mountain lands east of the Continental Divide would indicate that 
about 40 per centum of the mean annual precipitation over that area 
would be the portion available for supplementing the rain and snow- 
fall on the irrigable lands east of the Divide, and that this would, if 
it could all be utilized and evenly distributed, afford with the rain-fall 
a mean annual depth of water of 27 inches over 10,200,000 acres of 
plains and valley land. 

But it is evident on the one hand that the water of the streams 
could not, by reason of the contour of the country, be quite equally 
distributed; that a considerable portion of the water drawn from the 
streams for direct irrigation, as well as that stored in reservoirs, is lost 
by evaporation and seepage before it is placed upon the land, while a 
portion of the water in the streams themselves is by the same cause 
dissipated. On the other hand, it should be borne in mind that much 
of the water drawn from the streams near their sources, or canons, 
and carried in ditches and distributed to the land, returns to the streams 
directly, r by percolation, and can be drawn therefrom again by ditches 
diverting water below, and thus portions of the water of a stream be 
used for irrigation several, perhaps many times; that much of the ob- 
served loss in reservoirs, through seepage, returns to the water courses 
and may be diverted therefi-om ; that while the annual rain-fall esti- 
mated as necessary to the profitable raising of crops without irrigation 
falls at haphazzard times, irrigation works enable the cultivator of the 



72 XKE Great "West. 

soil to apply water to liis crops at the times when they most need it; 
that less water, on some lands and with some crops at any rate, is 
needed for irrio-ation after the first few years of application of water 
thereto, and that the rain-fall on that belt of the plains near the base 
of the mountains furnishes some water to the streams, not accounted for 
in their estimated discharge at their canons, which can be used on the 
lower lands to the east. 

These considerations are not repeated in connectioii with the west- 
ern portion of Colorado. A glance at the statements gi\'en and relat- 
ino- to that portion of the state indicates that the ratio of movmtains to 
tlie plateau and valley lands is much greater there than is tlie case east 
of the Di\'ide, and that the water supply there, notwithstanding the 
light rain-fall on the plateaus and in the valleys is greater, both actually 
and in proportion to the needs thereof, than- in the eastern portion of 
Colorado. While this brief reviev/ of tlie natural conditions governing 
irrigation development in Colorado shows that any attempt to foretell 
accurately the area of the land in the state which may be brought under 
irrio-ation must be fruitless, a conclusion rendered more apparent when 
it is recocrnized that the annual precipitation, both in the mountains 
and on the plains, varies greatly; it, nevertheless, plainly supports the 
confidence that the achievement aimed at by her people will make of 
Colorado a great agricultural commonwealth. 

But, however energetic her people may have been, however skill- 
ful in construction and fruitful in resources, it was in the legislative 
halls, and the court rooms that they fostered best Coloi-ado's wonder- 
ful development in irrigation enterprises. This is not to be considered, 
however, as indicating that the irrigating laws of the state are by any 
means perfect, or complete, or that the actions of tlie courts have been 
universally satisfactory. Indeed, more matters of importance in con- 
nection with this art of irrigation are now demanding attention at the 
hands of the law makers of Colorado than has been the case at any- 
previous period. But the demand is now for a systematic arrangement 
of the laws, the extension thereof, and the modification of those enact- 
ments which are not clearly consistent with the fundamental doctrines 
of the courts governing the use of water for irrigation in the State. 

The result of the agitation of the subject of irrigation about one 
year ao-o was a reservoir convention in Denver in March, 1888, at 
which the subject was discussed and resolutions passed, which were 
the direct cause of the National Government taking hold of the sub- 
ject. Major Powell was directed by Congress to view proposed sites 
for reservoirs in the Rocky Mountain region and report to that body 
the practical)ility, etc., of the same. His report appears in the ap- 
pendix (see index). 

Col. Itichard J Hinton, under the direction of the Commissioner 
of Ao-riculture, jSTorman J. Coleman, compiled a mass of information 
regarding- '♦ Irrigation in the United States," which was printed in 



The Grkat AVkst,, 



73' 




74 The Great West. 

pamphlet form at the Govermnent Printing Office in 1887 and dis- 
tri])uted thronghout the arid region. The book is out of print and 
not obtainable from the department; it is a valuable treatise upon the 
subject, and should be reproduced with correct data to the present 
time. We look for Major Powell to get out a very exhaustive report 
upon the subject, probably in time to submit at the next session of 
Congress, and, in the Government's good time, be available to the 
hungry public, in book form, some time within the following year. 
"Western Senators and Congressmen should insist upon an unlimited 
number of copies of that report being published for general information. 
The puldic in general are entirely ignorant of what irrigation is, its 
l)enelits, its utility and its delights. AVhy not delightful^ We have 
seen old crusty farmers in Illinois, in drought years, who would have 
been delighted if they could have opened a iiood-gate from an irrigat- 
ing ditch and sav^ed their M'ithering crops and parched meadows. 
Yes, we believe they Avould have stopped shaking with ague long 
enough to have smiled at their independence of old Prob. or the clerk 
of the weather. 

Irrigation is not so expensi ve as is generally believed. The average 
cost to construct canals in Colorado is about $1.50 per acre of ground 
thus reclaimed. The annual cost of putting the water on the land is 
about $2 per acre, which includes needed repairs of ditch and cost of 
water; therefore a farmer in Illinois who raises about one good crop 
in three, owing to either drought or flood could afford to give away 
his Illinois farm to secure one in Colorado. Let us compare Illinois' 
yield and prices in farmer's hands with Colorado, the following 
taken fi-o«n United States reports for crops of 1886: 



ILLINOIS. 


COLORADO. 


Product. 


Bushels 
per Acre. 


Price 
per Bushel. 


Bushels 
per Acre. 


Price 
per Bushel. 


Indian Corn 


24.5 

13.7 

12. 

31.8 

23. 


S .31 
.69 
.57 
.26 
.52 


31.5 
19.8 
22. 
33. 

'"^8 1 


$ .50 
70 


Wheat 


Rye 


72 


Oats 


42 


Barlev 


62 









Al)Out one-half of the agi'icultural area included in above averages 
of Colorado yield per acre is without irrigation. Irrigated fields aver- 
age a yield of from 50 to 100 per cent, greater than the above table, 
and would bring the l)alance much greater in Colorado's favor; by the 
table, however, the average o;ain bv farminor in Colorado over Illinois, 
IS shown to i)e o bu.shels per acre, at an average value of 50 cents per 
bushel; $2.50 and 14 cents per bushel on the amount of product, 
which averages 21 bushels per acre, making a difference in price in 



^ 



The Great West, TT) 

favor of Colorado of |2.94, to be added to the $2.50, makes approxi- 
mately $5.00 per acre per annum in favor of the Colorado farmer in 
yield and price; in addition, he has absolute certainty of a crop each 
year, with only $2.00 per acre to charge up against Colorado for cost of 
irrigation, leaving a net gain of $3.00 per acre per annum, besides the 
healthiest climate in the world to live in. 

The land can be obtained at government price and terms in many 
instances, in others it may be purchased, all rights attached, at $10 
per acre. No fear of the home market being over-stocked; the mining 
and industrial interests are rapidly increasing, and the health-seeking 
population is rapidly improving, all much out of proportion to the in- 
crease of farms and farmers. 

Grain, provisions, fruit and berries are mainly shipped in from 
other states; even hay, chickens and eggs are largely imported. 

Denver is the best market for all the above farm products of any 
city in America of less than 200,000 population; for statistics in sup- 
port of which we cite you to the article on Denver, later on in this work. 

Col. Hinton, in his report before referred to, estimates the arid 
region of the United States to be 1,000,000 square miles, one-third of 
the entire area of the United States, exclusive of Alaska, one-half of 
which is mountainous, and incapable of being cultivated, owing to its 
altitude, or nearly perpendicular sides. This vast area, however, re- 
ceives more than its proportionate share of annual precipitation by 
natural humidity, twice to three times, and the water only requires to 
be properly stored and distributed to furnish an abundance to reclaim 
the other 500,000 square miles. The mountain region is valuable for 
grazing, coal and precious metals, which, in value of annual produc-. 
tion, exceeds the same area in agriculture, and is capable of employing 
.a much larger population. 



7«) 



The Great "West. 



m-'-'^'^flvyuyAw. < ^^ < ^..^_^, " :j(si^ ' 




The Gkeat West. 77 



AGRICULTURE. 



COLORADO'S agricultural possibilities luive never been fully tested, 
as far, however, as experiments have been made success has ex- 
ceeded expectations, as we jireseutly show. In 1886, Colorado had in 
Held crops 332,018 acres. The article on irrigation which preceded 
this, gives the area of irrigated lauds at this time to be 2,000,000 acres. 
Colorado crops in 1886 were as follows: 29,778 acres, producing 938,- 
000 bushels of corn, valued at |169,000 ; 122,152 acres, producing 
2,119,000 bushels of wheat, valued at |1,693,300; 1,909 acres, pro- 
duciug 42,000 bushels of rye, valued at |30,240; 48,207 acres,' pro- 
ducing 1,591,000 bushels of oats, valued at |668,220; 6,876 acres, 
producing 198,000 bushels of barley, valued at $119,660; 8,096 acres, 
producing 631,000 bushels of potatoes, valued at $359,670; and 115,- 
000 tons of hay, valued at $1,127,000, making a total of 332,018 acres, 
producing in value |4,467,090; or each acre yielding in value |13.45, 
a greater yield per acre than any state in the Union ; Ohio ranking 
next, with a yield per acre amounting to $11.40. 

Colorado consumes largely in excess of her agricultural product, 
and has furnished a splendid market for the surplus product of West- 
ern Nebraska and Kansas; and with the millions of acres awaiting the 
plow in Colorado, with full water rights, we cannot see wliy this state 
will not attract a large farming population. The farm and mineral 
lands of the state are so equitably distributed tliat each support the 
other, and never will the state be an exporter of anything except gold, 
silver, lead, copper, zinc, iron, coal and oil; the workers in which must 
be supplied with food and raiment by tlie farmci-. 

We now turn to Colorado's live stock industry. January 1st, 
1888, the state contained 127,483 head of horses, valued at $7,437'',086; 
8,247 head of mules, valued at $759,697; 63,023 head of milch cows, 
valued at $2,345,086; 1,040,353 head of oxen and other cattle, valued 
at $20,918,327; 1,137,686 head of sheep, valued at $2,257,169; and 
23,149 head of hogs, valued at $153,103; a total of 2,409,211 head of 
live stock, valued at |33,810,468; which, added to the agricultural out- 
put, makes a grand total of farm products, January 1st, 1888, ao-ore- 
gating $38,337,558; add to this the metal, coal and oil output- -metals, 
gold, silver, lead and copper, $34,500,000; iron, $2,000,000; coal, 
$5,000,000; oil, $500,000, and we have a grand total of produced 
wealth from native material, per annum aggregating $80,337,558. 

From the late returns of the assessor, the total assessed valuation 
of tlie state May 1st, 1888, amounted to $169,000,000, which repre- 
sents but one-third of the actual value; therefore, Colorado one year 
ago contained $507,000,000 of wealth, which has undoubtedly increas- 
ed 20 per cent during the past year. Every dollar of that vast sum 
has either been ducr out of the monntains. or has been made from the 



78 Tin-: Great Wes'i 

large herds that range the Colorado plains, or extracted from the soil 
by the sturdy husbandman. 

Colorado's action in the movement for deep harbors on the Texas 
Gulf coast is the most disinterested of any western state, since she 
never hopes to have grain or provisions to export: home consumption 
will absorb all Colorado's grain product, the only export of value to the 
state is gold and silver. The Government purchases all of the gold in 
Denver. The silver, of course, is very valuable compared with weight, 
hence the bullion is all expressed east, to be absorbed in the arts, or in 
the United States mint, freight charges being of small consideration. 

Deep Harbors on the Texas Gulf, however, will have the effect to 
build Denver up in the wholesale business, to rival Kansas City and 
Omaha, and generally benefit the whole state. 

The late Colorado General Assembly, through the intluence and 
perseverance of Senator Adair Wilson, appropriated ?^2,50O to assist in 
paying the expenses of the Deep Harbor Committee. No other legis- 
lature contributed a dollar, not even Texas, where the people should be 
most interested. 

The Colorado Committee on Deep Harbors is composed of excep- 
tionally strong men, Ex-Governor John Evans being at the head ; asso- 
ciated with him we find Ex-Governor Alva Adams; State Senator 
Adair Wilson; Hon. C. C. Davis, of Leadville; and Hon. W. S. 
Jackson, of (^^olorado Springs. 



IMPORTANT CITIES OF COLORADO. 

Denver, population, 130,000; Pueblo, 80,000; Leadville, 20,000; 
Colorado Springs, 12,000; Trinidad, 11,000; Aspen, 8,000; Boulder, 
5,000; and numerous others of less than 5,000 inhabitants, but of con- 
siderable commercial importance, among which we mention Golden, 
Idaho Springs, Georgeto^vn, Glenwood Springs, Greeley, Longmont, 
Fort Collins, Grand Junction, Fort Morgan, Akron, La Junta, Las 
Animas, Lamar, Walsenburg, Canon City, Salida, Buena Vista, Gunni- 
son, Montrose, (^uray, Silverton, Telluride, Alamosa and Durango. 



STATE FINANCES. 

A tittintr close to our artic-le on Colorado is an exhibit of the state 
finances, and we quote from the late reports of the State Auditor and 
Secretary of State: 

alihtok's keport. 

"Frqm the last biennial report of the Auditor of State, the finances 
of the state are clearly epitomized, showing the total receipts and dis- 



The Great "West. 79 

biirsemeiits for two years, ending November 30tli, 1888, to have been: 
receipts, 12,280,179.85 which, with tlie cash on hand December 1st, 
1886, 1181,885.64, and cash invested in state warrants on that date, 
1352,617.08, make a total of $8,114,682,57. The total disburse- 
ments were $1,721,830.31, which with cash invested in state warrants, 
$575,047.92, and cash balance in treasury, $817,804.34, make a total 
of $3,114,682.57. The receipts by biennial terms from the admission 
of the state to the close of 1888, were as follows: 

1877-78 $ 307,893.53 

1879-80 625,617.08 

1881-82 953,286.60 

1883-84 1,483,468.00 

1885-86 1,837,395.24 

1887-88 2,280,179.85 

At last we have an intelligent and straight forward analysis of the 
state debt, and an explanation of the causes of its magnitude, which as 
a matter of fact is surprising to the tax-payer not much accustomed to 
investigating the disposition made of the public funds, and it will also 
be discovered that much of the indebtedness is due to the operation of 
imperfect laws, otherwise the license permitted by loosely worded 
statutes, perhaps designed to be liberally and not literally construed. 

Auditor Kingsley, after making a brief reference to the statement 
of his predecessor, published in advance of the decision of the Supreme 
Courfe to the effect that only four mills on the dollar could be levied 
by the State Board of Equalization for all purposes, whereby that 
official proceeded on the theory that the general fund was entitled to a 
four mill tax, says the state debt November 30th, 1888, aggregated 
$952,544.41, and only consisted of outstanding warrants drawn by 
direction of the legislature in its several appropriations against the 
general revenue fund, and bearing 6 per cent; certificates of indebted- 
ness issued by direction of the Governor and Attorney General, bear- 
ing 6 per cent interest, and loco weed certilicates unredeemed. In 
detail as follows: 

Outstanding interest-bearing warrants 8839,824.17 

Certificates of indebtedness 86,879.10 

Loco weed certificates 31,363.00 

Total $958,066.27 

Less cash available 5.511.86 

State debt November 30th, 1888 $952,554.41 

As against this rather respectal)le del)t for a state twelve years 
old, we have an offset in available delinquent taxes of $435,160.38, 
leaving the debt in excess of revenue, Noveml)er 30th. 1888. at 
1517,394.03. 



so 



The Grkat Wesi, 

ABSTRACT OF ASSESSAIENT FOR YEARS 1887 AND 1888. 



Arres of land ' . . . 

Improvements on lands 

Miles of railroad and value .... 
Average value of merchandise. 
Amount of capital employed in 

manufactures 

Town and city lots 

Horses 

Mules 

Asses 

Cattle 

Sheep 

Swine 

Goats 

All other animals 

Musical instruments 

Clocks and watches 

Jewelry, gold and silver ijate . . 
Amount of money and credits . 

Carriages and vehicles 

Household property 

All other property 

Bank stock and other shares . . 
Mines 



6,697,915 
'2,954 



151,084 

7,637 

2,327 

900.912 

795,592 

15,181 

11,008 

4,312 

4,523 

11,565 



26,071 



Grand total valuation of state 



VALUATION. 

17,035.180.88 

16.762.937.13 

25,412,039.02 

6,565,688.00 

.5.55,783.00 

48,431,436.50 

5,157,430.00 

465,379.00 

29,233.t)0 

11,469,326.(X) 

862,877.00 

46,288.50 

11,012.0( 

27,902.00 

388,121.50 

205,765.00 

58,349.00 

2,722,909.89 

991,993.00 

656,183.0ti 

2,337,714.95 

1,329,136.00 



144..323.681.3: 



1888. 



9,343,539 
'3,7.39 



170,056 

10,452 

1,002 

911.989 

747.679 

16,236 

10,403 

3,967 

5,685 

13,253 



28,612 



VALUATION. 

S 29,896.028.50 

11,155,210.50 

31,240.602.11 

7,062,647.00 

707,541.00 

60,722,365.00 

5,611,699.00 

523,886.00 

9.340.(X) 

10,292.877.00 

751.377.00 

50,165.(X) 

10,617.a) 

29,531.00 

426,708.00 

215,820.00 

66,303.00 

2,570,057.00 

880.663.00 

781,969.00 

2,653,990.20 

1,469,260.00 

1,683,540.00 

8168.812,246.93 



The state valuHtioii, as shown hy tlie assessment j-olls, lias heen as 
follows: 

1877 S 43,453,946.66 

1878 43,072,648.26 

1879 58,315,389.30 

1880 73,698,746.29 

1881 96,135,305.48 

1882 104,440,683.57 

1883 110.759,756.21 

1884 115,675,014.51 

1885 115,420.193.90 

1886 124.209.710.06 

1887 141.323,684.37 

1888 168,812,246.93 



K.\TKA(T FK<):\[ KKI'oKT OF SKCi; i:'!"A]iV OF 



The revenue of the state from this office have heen for the last 
two fiscal years nearly three times as much as for any two previous 
years in the history of Colorado. The receipts derived fi-om this office, 
commencing with the admission of the state up to the time I came into 
office, amounted to $52,259.60. Durino- my tei-m of office the iwenue 



Thi-: Grkat West. 



81 




82 TiiK Great West. 

for the two years, ending November 30tli, 1888, has amounted to- 
170,652.12. The amount is sufficient to pay the salaries of Secretary 
of State, his Deputy, and the salaries of the Go^•ernor and his Secretary, 
Treasurer of State and his Deputy, Auditor of State and his Deputy, 
Attorney General, School Superintendent and their Clerks; in short, 
it pays the full salaries of the Executive Department and their Depu- 
ties for the two years. 

There are in the state 924 corporations for pecuniary gain, em- 
hracing 218 for mining and milling ores. 147 ditch and canal com- 
panies, and 559 miscellaneous associations. The capital stock of these 
various corporations amounts to $373,742,485 divided as follows; 

Mining and Milling Corporations $ 181,938.000 

Ditch and Canal Corporations 22,474,995 

Miscellaneous Corporations 209.329,490 

§373.742,485 



CLIMATE. 

THE climate of Colorado is varied, owing to altitude and shelter of 
the mountains and ranges in winter, from mild in low altitudes 
sheltered by mountains, to extremely severe in high altitudes unpro- 
tected. The actual difference within a liundred miles in temperature 
in winter, is frequently 1)0 degrees. The telegrams to eastern papers 
from Colorado often quote the temperature at from 40 to 50 degrees 
below zero. This is taken from some exposed point, probably 10,000 
feet above sea level, the distinction being rarely noted, and throughout 
the east Colorado is looked upon as a frigid climate in Avinter, M-ken 
the reverse is the case. In the valleys and along the foot-hills the 
thermometer rarely falls below zero, and in summer rarely rises above 
90 degrees. In our article on Denver, and on Colorado Springs follow- 
ing, we give more of a detail regarding climate, which may be con- 
sidered as a fair average for the state. The following table of altitudes 
will give the reader an idea of the difference of temperature, at the 
same time of observation: 

ALTITUDES ABOVE THE SEA. 



Argentine Pass 13.000 

Breckenridge Pass 11,8(K) 

CJanon City 4,700 

Colorado Springs 5,915 

Denver 5,364 

Fort Garland 9,764 

Georgetown 8,466 

Gray's Peak 14,5(i6 

Greeley 4,779 

Leadville 10.025 

Long's Peak 14.300 

Manitou 0,124 



Middle Park 8,000 

Mt. Lincoln 14,183 

Ouray 6,000 

Pagosa Springs 6,800 

Pike's Peak 14,336 

Pueblo 4,400 

Sangre de Cristo 9,395 

Sierro Blanco Peak 14,402 

South Park 9,842 

Uncompahgre Mountains 14,540 

Veta Pass 9,339 



The Great "West. bH 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PUEBLO, COLORADO. 



GEOGRAPHICAL. 



PUEBLO is tlie capital of Pueblo County, situated upon the 
Arkansas River, 500 miles west of Kansas City and 120 miles 
southeast of Denver, connected with Kansas City by three direct rail 
routes — the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Missouri Pacitic and Chi- 
cago; Rock Island & Pacitic. Connected with Denver by the Denver 
& Rio Grande; Denver, Texas & Fort Worth; Atchison, Topeka & 
Santa Fe; Missouri Pacific, and Chicago, Rock Island & Pacitic rail- 
roads. Jt is admirably situated for a great distributing point, which 
accounts for its amazingly great increase of wholesale and jobbing 
business in the past year, which is referred to later on in this 
chapter. 

HISTORICAL. 

Pueblo (Spanish), meaning originally " people," was applied in 
the early conquests of America by the Spaniards to the people, 
who livetl chiefly in villages or cities, and thereby became confounded 
with the cities themselves, and, later, became the accepted term for a 
village in which people resided, and, in modern times, has been applied 
to particular villages or cities, as in the case of this busy, enterprising 
city that we now present to our readers, which is rapidly gaining the 
appellation of the " Pittsburg of the West," richly deserving the 
same, from its manifold manufacturing and smelting industries, of 
which we shall have more to say later on in this chapter. 

The Spanish conquerors of New Mexico did not establish settle- 
ments north of Santa Fe; hence the settlement of thQ Arkansas valley 
did not begin until after this territory had been acquired by the 
United States from Mexico in 1850, with the exception of Bent's 
Fort, established in 1826 by Bent, St. Vrain & Co., at a point in Bent 
County, on the Arkansas River, which Col. Bent himself destroyed in 
1852 by fire and explosion, refusing to sell it to the United States 
Government for $12,000, when his price was $16,000. 

In 1853 he erected another fort forty miles east, which he after- 
wards leased to the Government, and which was by them named Fort 
Wise. 

In 1806 Captain Pike started out upon an exploring expedition. 
Proceeding up the Arkansas to where Pueblo now stands, he turned 
aside and followed up the Fountain to the foot of the mountain peak 



The Grkat AVest. 85 

which has since l)orne his name. At that early day it is said Captain 
Pike realized and expressed himself regarding the importance of the 
site of Pueblo as a stratagetic point for future commerce. 

The next great explorer who passed this particular spot was Fre- 
mont, the Pathfinder, who followed in the footsteps of Pike to Pike's 
Peak in the year 1843. Fremont, however, proceeded further, passing 
through the Ute Pass, ov^er Fremont Pass and on to California. This 
latter great explorer did not fail to note the importance of Pueblo as a 
future seat of commerce. 

Probably the first settlement of Pueblo was about 1850, by the 
establishment of a trading post or fort, rudely constructed of adobe, 
and Cottonwood pickets, called Fort Nepesta, the Ute name for the 
Arkansas River, at a place near where the Santa Fe depot now stands. 
A small Mexican settlement had been established by Charles Antobees, 
an old hunter and trapper, near the mouth of the St. Charles. Agri- 
culture was attempted upon a small scale, and with fair success. 

In 1854 the Ute Indian insurrection completely annihilated the 
small settlement, and no permanent habitations were re-established 
until about 1858, when the Pike's Peak gold excitement revived the 
hopes of the early settlers. About this time adventurers began to 
come in great numbers to Colorado; among the number were Si. Smith, 
Otto Winneka, Frank Dorris and George LeBaum, who, when they 
reached the junction of the Fountain with the Arkansas, turned aside 
from their search for gold and camped at a point about the north line 
of Shaw's addition to the present city. Wisely they concluded that 
the most profitable branch of mining was to furnish supplies to the 
gold hunters and make exchanges with the natives. They therefore 
concluded to start a town and call it Fountain City. No sooner 
thought of than executed. They were soon joined by Wm. II. Green, 
of Green Bay, Wisconsin, George Peck, Robert Middleton, Anthony 
Thomas, William Kroenig and George McDougal. About this time 
came two men, Cooper and Wing, from Missouri, bringing a small stock 
of goods, and with them were two surveyors, Shaffer and Brown, who 
made a survey and plat of the town site. Robert Middleton's wife 
accompanied him, and was the first white woman of the settlement. 
The Arapahoe Indians (about eighty lodges) camped alongside of the 
whites in the winter of 1858, trading in furs, dressed skins, etc. The 
following spring a ditch was taken out from the Fountain for the pur- 
pose of irrigation. The successful raising of crops in the Arkansas 
dates from that year, 1859. It was in this year that a rival town was 
started on the west side of the Fountain, and called Pueblo, established 
by Dr. Belt, Dr. Catterson, Wesley Catterson, Si. Warren, Ed. Cozzens, 
Jack Wright and Albert Bereau. The same year Hon. George M. 
Chilcott, since United States Senator from Colorado, and O. 11. P. 
Baxter came to Colorado, removing to Pueblo in the fall of 1860. 
Jack Wright, a brother-in-law of £d. Cozzens, built the first house in 



S() The Great AVesi 

Pueblo, followed soon after by another, erected by Aaron Sims, 
another brother-in-law of Ed. Cozzens. Dr. Catterson built a house 
in the rear of Avhere now stands Jenner's store. Thus was a fair start 
made toward building up the great metropolis that Pueblo is to-day. 

A notorious character by the name of Jack Allen, from Fort 
AYise, believing that a town expecting to become a city, must be duly 
christened, proceeded to move his "gin jnill" from that place to 
Pueblo. He was the first person to establish a ^\•hisky shop in 
Pueblo; he named it "The Taos Lightning factory," and began to 
dispense " good liker" to the settlement and to the poor aborigines. 
How he compounded his liquids always remained a mystery to the 
Puebloites. One thing certain, it Mas fire water, and Mould paralyze 
the most hardened frontiersman and lay out an Indian in double quick 
order. Fountain City soon decayed under the greater civilizing influ- 
ences exerted by Jack Allen, and finally became a portion of the city 
of Pueblo. 

Colonel Boone built a frame tenement house on Santa ¥e aveniie 
soon after the toM'n was fairly started, and opened a store therein. Not 
long thereafter he M'as called away from Pueblo on business, leaving 
Dr. Catterson to keep the store. Tradition has it that he not only kept 
the store, but the money as m'cII, and that, upon the breaking out of 
the M^ar, the colonel's riches took to themselves M'ings and flcM' M'itli 
Dr. Catterson to "Dixey." Like all M^estern toM'us, Pueblo had its bap- 
tism of blood ere it became a settled community; the terrors of Avhich 
it is not our purpose to relate. After the flight of Dr. Catterson, 
Pueblo M'as M'ithout a store for nearly one year; at the end of that 
time John A. Thatcher, noM' one of Pueblo's M^ealthiest merchants, 
arrived at the foot of Santa Fe avenue from Denver with a small load 
of store goods. M-hicli he had bought on credit. He soon established 
himself in a 10x10 log cal)in, very shortly disposing of all his stock. 
He returned to Denver and brought back a more pretentious stock. 
From that small beginning he gradually M'orked himself up to be the 
leading merchant in Colorado. 

Messrs. Baxter and Thatcher erected in 1804 a grist mill, M-hich 
was the first noted event in the progressive history of Pueblo. The 
first hotel M^as kept by Aaron Sims, mIio M-as also the first postmaster. 
From the erection of the Baxter-Thatcher mill and the close of the 
Indian M'ar of that year, Puehlo progressed quite rapidly. In 18(58 
St. Peter's Episcopal Church M'as built, (the fii-st in Pueblo), folloM'ed 
soon after by the Methodist, Presbyterian and Catholic societies; 

THE FIRST newspaper. 

Probaby the most important event in the early history of Pueblo 
M^as the estal)lishment of the Puel)lo CJiieftain^ M'hich made its first 
appearance June 1st, 1868. The paper M-as edited by (lov. George 
A. Hinsdale (since deceased) and Judge Will)er V. Stone; published 



Thk Gkp:at West. 



87 




iWlilPi 



gg The Great AYest. 

by Dr. Beshear and Sam. McBride. The first issue contained a notice 
of the death of tlie famous scout, Kit Carson, at Bogg's lianch, tlien 
in Pueblo County, together with resolutions of respect passed by a 
club of his friends in Pueblo. (The progress of the Chieffaii) will 
be fully set forth further on in this work.) 

Pueblo then commenced to make rapid strides, and in 1870 
became an incorporated town, with a full complement of ofHcers, 
Louis Conley being the first president of the Bonrd of Trustees. 

In 1872, the Denver & Rio Grande Railway was completed to 
Pueblo, and marked the next great epoch in the progress of the place. 
Tlie advent of the first railroad was appropriately celebrated, and the 
town rapidly changed to a city, and necessitated the change in 1878 
from town to city government. The year 1874 witnessed the con- 
struction of the Holly system of waterworks, and in 1875 the second 
railroad was completed to Pueblo, — the Pueblo tfe Arkansas Valley road 
connecting with the Atchison, Topeka <k, Santa Fe. 



ARKANSAS VALLEY. 



IT has been well said, that ''what the Mississippi and Missouri val- 
leys are to the Northwest; what the Amazon is to South America; 
what the Nile is to Egypt, so is the great Arkansas valley to the mid- 
dle West." It is the great natural highway across the continent to 
which travel and commerce are yearly more and more resorting. The 
valley of this great river is in no part of the world surpassed in fertil- 
ity, from its very source in the Rocky Mountains to its debouchment 
in Arkansas. Almost throughout its entire extent, over 2,000 miles, 
corn and the smaller cereals attain a perfection and yield an abundance 
very rarely equalled. If corn is king, the Arkansas valley, almost to 
the base of the mountains, is the most prized of the royal demesnes. 
Over millions of yet uncultivated acres unnumbered herd's and flocks 
grow fat on the nutritious natural grasses, which need no curing for 
the winter season — a perennial supply for the year around. It is a 
region in which thrive luxuriantly all the fruits and varied products 
of the temperate zones. The climate is healthful, and farms are 
almost ready made to hand, requiring only an upturned soil to yield 
abundantly. Between the mountains and the eastern limit of Colo- 
rado there are more than fifteen millions of acres drained by the 
Arkansas and its tributaries. A comparison shows that this vast ter- 
ritory more than ecjuals in extent the combined acres of Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware and Rhode Island. A large 
proportion of this great domain is susceptible of irrigation; aiid yet, 
with its inconceivably rich resources, immense stretches of land stand 
idle under the sun, waiting for the industrious millions that will even- 




v 



JUDGE W. J. KERR. 



W. J. Kerr, secretary of tlie Stanley Drill Power Company, was 
born in Newry, Ireland, June 28tli, 1849. His fathei-, Rev. John 
Kerr, was an eminent and widely known Pi-esbyterian orator and 
divine. W. J. Kerr received Ids education in Dublin, Ireland; 
studied law under Chief Justice Sidney Brass, of Illinois, and after- 
wards engaged in the practice of law in Mt. Yernon, Illinois, and 
Garnett, Kansas. He came to Pueblo in 1880, and has established 
such a reputation as a Democratic politician and orator as ranks him 
amontr the foremost men of our country. 



The Grkat West. 89 

tiially turn tliese productive acres into nourishing farms, or live in 
comfort in future towns and villages. Of a very large part of these 
acres the government is still the owner, but is rapidly disposing of 
them to homesteaders and pre-emptors. Immense tracts are being 
provided l)y capitalists with irrigating ditches, the source of return for 
their investment being in the sale of perpetual water rights to 
settlers. 

Who can predict the possibilities of development in soil and pro- 
duction and growth of population in this portion of the great Arkansas 
valley within the next score of years? And then, too, it is true that 
the resources embraced within the limits of this valley in its mountain 
division, have not been much more than touched; its mineral wealth, 
hidden in rocky fastnesses, has only been scratched upon the surface. 
A¥ealth of gold and silver, iron, lead and copper, of coal and petroleum, 
of building stones and clays. Within the confines of this valley are 
Leadville, ranking among the greatest mining centers of the world, 
Trinidad, with its unlimited supplies of coal and iron. Canon City and 
Plorence in the midst of great fields of petroleum. 

Resting in the very heart of this valley of boundless wealth is 
Pueblo, on both sides of the Arkansas, where it is joined by the Fon- 
taine qui Bouille. Referring to the 

ORIGIN AND GROWTH 

of the city, an Eastern writer finds that "prosperity comes to Pueblo 
as water runs down hill." In the remote past the attraction of gravi- 
tation made the ground upon which the present city is built a meeting 
place for bands of primeval Indians and roving Spaniards, and, later, 
for scouts, soldiers and ov^erland traders. In the present genei'ation 
the same force has built there a commercial city and started within it 
the wheels of industrial progress. The overland traveler bound West 
made the spot his camping ground, because there he met his friends 
who had followed the source of the Fontaine qui Bouille down from 
Pike's Peak to the Arkansas valley, and those who liad struek across 
country from La Veta Pass, or had drifted eastward from the neigh- 
borhood of the Royal Gorge. That unwritten law of frontier logic 
which designates the confluences of streams as meeting points for 
migratory settlers, was at Pueblo as plainly cai'ried out as that more 
tangible modern rule, which says that manufacturing must be so 
placed that raw material shall come to them on the down grade. 



CLIMATE. 

HEALTH IS THE GREATEST WEALTH. 

SO much has been said and written about the climate of Colorado, 
and Pueblo in particular, that most people, even in the remote 
East, are w^ell informed on the subject of our superior advantages in 
this respect. The climate of Pueblo is noted for its deliglitful 



90 The Great West. 

autuniiis and mild, sunny winters, M'liile its springs are pleasant and 
its summers warm by day and cool l)y night. Situated at an altitude 
of al)Out 4,500 feet above the sea level, and in the Pueblo basin, it is, 
of all the plain cities, the best protected from the winds, which occa- 
sionally sweep over the vast prairies of Eastern Colorado, Kansas and 
Nebraska, while during the winter season the temperature of this 
basin is much higher than that of the surrounding and more elevated 
plateaus. Puel)lo is essentially a winter resort, and possesses the best 
features of a dry, mild winter climate to be found upon the western 
slope of the Rocky Mountains. To a person accustomed to the damp, 
foggy, cloudy winter months of the South and East, with their accom- 
panying mud, slush and chill, or to the rigorous winters of the Xorth, 
with icy fetter and snowy mantle, the climate of Pueblo and this sec- 
tion of Colorado presents a most vivid contrast. There is scarce one 
day out of the 365 during some parts of which it is not a pleasure to 
be out of doors, for the sun shines clear and warm, the ground is dry 
and the air bracing, stimulating and invigorating. An occasional 
wintry storm brings the only clouds, snow or cold, lasting from one to 
three days, to remind one of the season, after which the bright sun 
glows warm in the sky, the snow disappears from the ground as if by 
magic, and mild weather again prevails. Winter does not begin until 
Christmas or Xew Year's, and the few storms which ensue occur 
during the following six weeks. In the severe winter of 1884-5 there 
were but thirteen cold days; of 1885-6 but eight such days in which 
during a part of the twenty-four hours the thermometer registered 
zero or below; in the winter of 1886-7 there were only two days of 
cold, and in the winter of 1887-8 but seven cold days. To show the 
effect of the sun upon the atmosphere, when no storm was present, the 
temperature at 2 p. m. during each of the cold months often registered 
60 to 70 degrees F. in the shade. The dryness of the atmosphere is 
most remarkable and salutary, the average relative humidity being 
.46 or equivalent to 1.91 grains of vapor in the cubic foot of air. 
Contrasting this condition w^ith that of other health resorts, we find at 
Santa Barbara, California, a humidity Qf .60, and grains of vapor 4.23 ; 
at Jacksonville, Florida, a humidity of .69, and grains of vapor 5.60. 
The constant sunshine is well shown by the small number of cloudy 
days in which four-tifths or more of the sky is overcast. During 1887 
there were of cloudy days, 57; of fair days, 118; of clear days, 189. 

Out of door work of all kinds, such as ploughing, building, etc., 
can be engaged in at all times of the year without any delay on 
account of bad weather. 

To persons in search of a climate in which is to be found the 
greatest numbei" of pleasant sunny days, and the very fewest disagree- 
al>le ones; to those who love sunshine and a clear, pure atmosphere; 
to all who are fond of an out-of-door life, none will be found superior 
to that of Pueblo. People in health thrive here, and those seeking 



The Gkeat West, 91 

health are more apt to Unci it in Pueblo than in more remote but less 
favored places. This climate is particularly recommended for pulmo- 
nary complaints of all kinds, and the most sev^ere cases of asthma, hay 
fever, etc.. are promptly relieved and quickly cured at Pueblo. 

pueblo's wonderful health attractions. 

Probably the most wonderful attraction possessed by this aspiring 
city is the Clark's Magnetic Mineral Springs. Tlie flow was first 
tapped January 1st, 1880, by drilling, at a depth of 1,402 feet. The 
daily flow avei-ages 4,000 barrels. The water is highly magnetized; a 
knife blade held in the water for a few moments will, after being 
withdrawn, readily lift a pin by magnetic force. The temperature of 
the water remains, as at first, at 80 degrees Fahrenheit. This cele- 
brated spring, situated in the City of Pueblo, about four blocks from 
the Union Depot and six blocks from the business center of the city, 
has recently been improved l)y the ei-ection of a large and elegant bath 
house, fitted up with all the latest improvements for bathing. The 
Terrace House, opposite the bath house, has also been newly furnished, 
papered and refitted, for the accommodation of its patrons. There 
are also other first-class hotel accommodations convenient to the bath 
house, which, with the marvelous curative properties of the water, Iom- 
altitude and fine climate, make this the most clesirable health resort in 
the West. The water used in bathing and drinking flows direct from 
the spring, and, so far as the medication of waters can favorably affect 
the bath for which they are used, these baths have the strongest claim 
to confidence, inasmuch as no other waters in the Ignited States that 
are used for bathing and drinking are moi'e highly impregnated with 
mineral salts and acids. Persons bathing in this water, previous to 
doing so, should be intelligently instructed, under a proper knowledge 
of their case, as to the precise temperature of the bath and the length 
of time they remain in it. A trial of this water, in a multitude of 
cases, has demonstrated the fact, that, however insensible their prop- 
erties or unknown combinations, they are able to overcome many 
of the very worst forms of disease. These waters have acquired a 
national reputation for curing P>right's disease of the kidneys and dia- 
betes. Kidney affections in all stages and forms have been treated 
here w'ith uniform success. Sufferers should send to the Clark Mag- 
netic Mineral Spring Company for circulars, etc. 

Pueblo also has several other artesian Avells of less strength, but 
all of a mineral character, and each said to be a specific for some form 
or other of disease. The Clark Spring, however, continues in greatest 
favor, and retains the early reputation acquired for the cure of rheu- 
matism in all forms, kidney diseases, liver complaints, etc. Over 100 
cases of Bright's disease have been cured, twenty of whom came 
from England. A (qualitative analysis of the water gives the following 
constituents: Sulphuretted hydrogen, iron (form titanic acid), bicar- 



92 The Gkeat West. 

boiiate of lime, sulpliate of soda, sulphate of magnesia, manganese, 
potassium (trace), sulphuric acid, arsenious acid. Oue remarkal)le 
peculiarity al)out the M'ater is that knives are readily magnetized by 
holding them in the water. 

COAL AND OIL. 

Pueblo has in favor of manufacture 1,000,000 acres of coal land, 
within a radius of sixty miles, all a down hill haul, the quality of 
which is unsnrpassed in America for steam, heating, furnace or smelt- 
ing uses. The average cost of coal is S2.25 per ton at the mines, or 
$3.50 to $5 per ton at Pueblo. The grade of coal known as '* mining" 
or "pea" coal, for manufacturing purposes, sells at Pueblo for ^1 to 
$1.50 per ton. Petroleum fields, producing 1,000 ])nrrels per day, 
situated thirty miles from the city, is another important factor in the 
development of manufactures in and about Pueblo. Already a strong 
concern has been incorporated to pipe oil from the newly discovered 
field of Oil Creek (about ten miles further away than the present 
developed fields) to Pueblo, a distance of forty miles. The company 
is known as the Pueblo Oil and Development Company; capital, 
$1,000,000. The officers are: H. D. Mory, president and treasurer, 
Pueblo; N. R, Turchell, of Canon City, first vice president; IT. D. 
Sickles, of New York, second vice president; .1. S. ('. Bee, secretary, 
Pueblo, and L. W. Smith, general manager, Pueblo. This company 
ow!i or control about 4,000 acres of oil land. Wells are being 
drilled, and will be in operation September 15th next. The pipe line 
is also being constructed, and the vast system will be in operation 
before the snow flies. The purpose of the company is to pipe the 
crude oil to Pueblo, where it will be refined, the refuse to be used in 
manufactures for fuel. Tlie plan is entirely practical, the fall being 
about 1,500 feet in forty miles. Undoubtedly they will meet with 
strong opposition from the great Standard Oil monopoly. We are 
informed, howevei-, that this company have several millions of dollars 
back of them with which to meet that arch fiend, and will run them a 
pretty hard race for the business west of the Mississippi Tliver. 

Pueblo people are scarcely aware of their vast natural advantages, 
which accounts for their enterprise in securing the attention of the 
manufacturing world. Too often a city with such immense resources, 
places too much dependence upon their natural advantages, and, con- 
sequently, a less fortunately situated city gets all the sinews which 
make cities great, while the city trusting in its natural advantages 
remains at a standstill, until some genius shall have arisen and 
awakened the people to a true sense of the importance of pushing 
the natural advantages. Eastern capital is shy, and will only invest 
in places where local capitalists are williufif to show their faith in 
their city. 



The Great West. 



03 




94 The Great AVkst. 



RAILROAD ADVANTAGES. 



"Pueblo is the key to the railroad situation in the West/" said 
Jay Gould in an interview in Denver, when he was looking for a ter- 
minal point in CoUjrado for the Missouri Pacitic Itaihvay, which was 
completed to Pueblo in December, 1887. This western extension 
opened a new territory in Kansas and Eastern Colorado, now so rap- 
idly settling up; it. shortened the distance between Pue])lo and Kansas 
City, gave direct passenger connection with St. Louis, and, more than 
all, healthy competition in many towns and cities in Kansas, from 
which farm and dairy products are shipped into Colorado to supply 
the demands of those engaged in mining and manufacturing indus- 
tries. When it is considered that (),518 miles of railway are operated 
by this system, and over a thousand prosperous towns and cities 
placed in direct communication with Pueblo, the value of the Missouri 
Pacific to this city may be appreciated. 

The first trunk line to enter Southern Colorado was the Atchison, 
Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, which follows the Arkansas River 
through a region now improved by many productive farms and thriv- 
ing villages and cities. This vast system of 7,374 miles, wdiicli has 
been for years the main artery for commerce in Kansas, and connects 
Pueblo with every trade center in that state, has, by its recent exten- 
sions east of the Missouri liiver, given l*ueblo through trains into 
Chicago. The main offices of the western division are located in 
Pueblo. A branch of this line extends west to Canon City and the 
coal beds owned by the company. The coal fields of Trinidad are 
reached by this line by La Junta. The Denver 6c Santa Fe road, 
extending from Pueblo to Denver, is also operated by this same com- 
pany. 

The Chicago, Kansas & Nebraska (Rock Islaiul route) was com- 
pleted to Colorado Springs in November last, and its trains enter 
Pueblo over the track of the Denver ct Rio Grande Railway, of which 
company it has secured that right. This extension opens up a new 
territory in Northern Kansas and Eastern Colorado, besides facilitat- 
ing the intercourse between Colorado and the States of Nebraska, 
Iowa, Minnesota and Northern Illinois. This road was the first in 
the state to introduce the vestibule cars on regular trains. 

The immediate object of the Missouri Pacitic and Rock Island 
roads in building into the state is to gain access to the extensive coal 
beds of Southern Colorado, of which Pueblo is the acknowledored cen- 
ter and source of supply for the entire western portions of Kansas and 
Southern Nebraska, as well as to share in carrying eastward the pro- 
ducts of the manufactories now established, and those to come at no 
distant date. 

The ultimate purpose of these powerful trunk lines is to secure 
passage l)y natural and easy grades through the mountains to the 



The Great West. 95 

Paciiic coast. It has often been asserted by railroad managers that 
" Pueblo stands at the only natural gateway to the Rocky Mountains 
in Colorado," by which route freight can be carried at rates which can- 
not be met with protit by roads operating over tortuous routes, steep 
o-rades and road beds expensive to keep in repair. 

^ When Pueblo was brought within easy distance of New Orleans 
and Galveston by means of the "Panhandle" route, another great 
commercial advantage was gained. The Denver, Texas & Fort Worth 
Railway, operating 804 miles, was completed in the month of April, 
1887, placing Pueblo but little more than 1,000 miles from tide water 
and the cheap rates of ocean commerce. Merchandise arrives in 
Pueblo via steamer to Galveston and over this air line in twelve to 
fifteen days. Texas and Colorado are rapidly building up an exten- 
sive trade in the exchange of field and orchard products for Colorado 
coal and iron. The most wonderful tide of emigration which is set- 
ting in towards the vast territory reached by these four trunk lines 
will find Pueblo the supply depot for coal and manufactured products. 
The Denver & Rio Grande Railway, now the greatest nan-ow^ 
gauge system in the world, was called the "Baby Road " M'hen a small 
locomotive drew a few cars into Pueblo in 1872. The road was extended 
west to the base of the mountains at Canon City. It was extended 
south to the coal fields of El Moro, and over Yeta Pass to Fort Gar- 
land in San Luis Park. Then it rested. But when the rush began to 
the rich fields of ore about Leadville, the "Baby Road" became a little 
giant. It blasted a narrow trail through the granite-walled' canon of 
the Arkansas, where heretofore no man had ever ventured, and it rap- 
idly made its way to the "Carbonate Camp." With the discovery of 
other rich minino- districts, new mines were established over mountain 
ranges, through canons and along narrow edges, high up on the sides 
of mountain walls, to carry to the miner the supplies he should need, 
and to take away the rich ores or products of the reduction works. 
To reach some of these camps, the feats of engineering skill were the 
marvel of the scientific world. The Denver & Rio Grande now 
operates 1,800 miles of narrow gauge track. It is widening its main 
lines to standard gauge by the laying of a third rail. The small loco- 
motives of earlier days are now replaced by the latest pattern of con- 
solidated "moguls," both narrow and standard gauge; the freight and 
passenger cars are enlarged to standard size; in short, in equipment 
this road is the peer of any in the country. Broad gauge trains run 
between Pueblo and Denver, Pueblo and Canon City, and Pueblo and 
Trinidad, and will soon be running west to Leadville. A large portion 
of the distance between Pueblo and Denver is covered by a double 
track to accommodate the volume of trafiic. 

Pueblo is the center of this great system of broad and narrow 
gauge tracks, which penetrate by water grades the mountain fastness 
and bring down hill the products of the mines to be smelted in this 



96 The Gkeat West. 

natural depot point. One Imndred camps in this state are reached l»y 
this road alone, while in some sixty others it competes for business 
witli other roads. From Pueblo a branch extends south to the coal 
iields of Las Animas County, to the rich agricultural lands in San 
Luis valley and to "Silver San Juan." Westward it extends to Lead- 
ville, Aspen and Glen wood Springs; down the valleys of the Gunni- 
son and the Grand, and across the plateau country to Salt Lake City 
and Ogden, Utah, while numerous branches reach out and up to pro- 
ductive mines. This road offers to the miner, the ranchman, the lum- 
berman, the stockman, the fruit grower, a ready market for the pi-o- 
ducts of their toil; it aids to develop the rich valleys and stores of 
mineral wealth. 

Not only in a commercial sense is it a benefit to the whole state — 
it offers to the tourist easy access to the grandest mountain scenery in 
the world. From tlie Avindows of a Pullman he may view with won- 
der on canon, pass and gorge; in a day, '"ride from summer to M'inter." 
By extensive and expensive means of advertising, this road atti-acts 
thousands each year to Colorado, many of whom, while enjoying the 
attractions of the "Scenic Route of the World,'' are led to investigate 
the resources of the country traversed, and who finally become citizens 
of the state. 

The Colorado Midland, while not i-unning trains into Pueblo, 
indirectly adds to the railroad advantages of this point by giving 
needed competition into the mountains by means of a ti-affic arrange- 
ment with the Denver & Santa Fe road. 

This road is splendidly equipped and ably managed. It was the 
first standard gauge line to break through the mountains of Colorado 
to the rich mineral held on the w^estern slope. Rich coal deposits are 
found along the line, valuable agricultural and pastural lands have 
been opened up, and the tourist has much to amaze and delight him in 
a tour over this route. 1^'rom Manitou Springs to Glenwood Springs 
the ride is one continued succession of surprises. Canon and plain 
and tunnel and goi-ge altei'iiately are presented to the unweai-ying eye. 
The great expanse of South Park is seen in broad mid-day, the rich 
mining camps of Leadville and Aspen are reached in comfort at night- 
fall. The company is extending its line down Rifle Creek and beyond 
New Castle, ultimately to reach Salt Lake City. 

PROJECTED LINES. 

There are signs of new roads for Pueblo, and already rumors of 
the arrival of more trunk lines from the East are freely circulated. 
The Missouri Pacific M'ill build to its coal beds some fifty miles south - 
M-est of Pueblo. The Fort Worth M-ill build an independent line from 
Pueblo to Trinidad, its lease with the D. tfc R. G. being only a tempo- 
rary arrangement. The Puel)lo, Gunnison (k Pacific is an organiza- 
tion of local capitalists, who have surveyed a line into the San Luis 



The Great WesTo 97 

valley, and find a most practicable route. Some of the trunk lines 
seeking to penetrate the mountains M'ill build this line. As a railway 
center Pueblo has no equal in the West; in a few years its supremacy 
as a commercial center will be as iirmly established, as it is now the 
best smelting point in the West. 

A new Union Depot is arranged for, to cost 1400,000, and before 
this article is in print, work Mill have been begun npon it, and, ere a 
year rolls around, this magnificent edifice will be completed. 

pueblo's buildings. 

A recent canvass discloses the fact, that, at this time, buildings 
are being constructed in Pueblo that, when completed (and all will be 
by January 1st, 1890), they will cost a little over |2,000,000; other 
buildings for 1889 completed before this canvass, will swell the sum 
total of building for 1889 to exceeding $3,000,000. 

Pueblo is at pi-esent receiving a large amount of Eastern capital 
for investment, as is evidenced by the Thurlow-Ilutton or Central 
block and the Swift block, costing respectively 1400,000 and |150,000. 
The Central block is a large five-story stone structure, covering 135x 
139 feet of ground; the building is to be nsed as a store and office 
block. The Denver & Pio Grande division headquarters will be 
located there. Messrs. Williams and Mallal)y, the popular real estate 
and insurance firm, are agents for the block, and we are informed by 
them that the building will be one of the best finished buildings in 
Colorado, having three elevators, steam heat, electric lights and all 
other modern improvements. While not as tall as some Denver build- 
ings, the floor space will be greater than any building in the state; we 
produce a cut elsewhere of this handsome building, which w^ll give 
our readers a fair idea of its massive proportions. 

The Swift block is almost completed, and will be occupied by 
Paul Wilson, Pueblo's leading dry goods merchant. The building is 
four stories in height, built of stone, brick and iron, a very handsome 
and solid building, and one in whicli Pueblo takes great pride. 

The Opera llouse is about one-half completed and the work 
being pushed as rapidly as men and money can accomplish the work; 
when completed it will be the finest theater building west of Chicago, 
and will be to Pueblo what the Tabor Grand has always been to Den- 
ver, insuring her citizens first class attractions. This building is 
being erected on local capital, as is also the great Mineral Palace, 
which is destined to be the greatest public attraction of America. 
The officers are well known western men of high standing, and 
regarded as '' pushers." More of this palace in a future issue. 

The Grand Hotel block is one of the substantial Iniildings of the 
city. It would require an entire volume to enumerate all of the sub- 
stantial business blocks of the city, and we therefore direct your atten- 
tion to the business of the city, the most important of which is the 
banking business, to which M'e give precedence. 



9K The Great West. 

PUEBLO BANKS AND BANKING, 

PFEBLO is justly proud of her banking institutions. There are 
four national banks and two private banks, all sound tinancial insti- 
tutions, having ample capital and a large snrplus. Another national 
bank is organizing and will be ready for bnsiness soon. There is no 
single business in any city that is as accurate a barometer as the bank- 
ing business, and with the history of the banking system of Pueblo is 
closely identified the progress of the city; each have made marvelous 
strides, and entitle Pneblo to rank as the second city west of the 
Missouri River. When the — — National Bank shall open its doors, 
Pueblo will be only two national banks behind Denver, a place it 
has held for some time. Denver having jnst added a new bank, 
keeps the balance the same. 

The history of banking in Pueblo might be said to date from 
1868, at which time Thatcher Brothers, who were largely engaged in 
merchandising in Pneblo, commenced to receive deposits and issue 
drafts for the benefit of their customers; they did not, however, start 
an exclusive banking business until -July, 1871, at which time they 
started 

THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF PUEBLO, 

incorporated with |50,0()0 capital. J. A. Thatcher was first president 
of the bank and M. D. Thatcher, cashier. Similar relations continued 
to exist until 1888, when J. A. Thatcher retired from the presidency 
of the bank, and M. D. Thatcher was chosen president and Robert F. 
Lytle, cashier. The prominent position held by this bank in the confi- 
dence of the people of Pueblo and the West generally, is due to the 
amplitude of its resources, the conservative methods of its manage- 
ment, and the substautial character of the gentlemen having its desti- 
nies in charge as ofhcers. The facilities of the bank for the transac- 
tion of every description of banking business are unsurpassed. 
Every department of a legitimate banking business is carried on, and 
the bank carries the accounts of individuals, firms and corporations, to 
whom it affords the best facilities consistent with correct banking 
principles. The safe and conservative management of this bank by 
the Thatcher Brothers and Mr. Lytle has placed it in the front rank of 
commercial institutions, a point only obtained after years of strict and 
practical attention to the details of the business and fidelity in deal- 
ing with business men. The capital of the bank has been increased 
to $100,000, and a surplus fund has accumulated, until it has reached 
the handsome sum of $850,000; the working capital of the bank is 
therefore $450,000. 

Eai'ly in 1873 the banking business had iiu'.reased so rapidly, 
keeping pace with the city, that additional facilities became necessary. 
It was then that .Jeff. Reynolds and associates, came to the front with 
a private bank, and continued thus until 1876. 



The Great West, 99 

stockgrowers' national bank. 

The history of this sound tinancial institution goes back to the 
year 1873, at wliich time it was organized as a private bank, and in 
1876 it was incorporated under the National Banking Act, with a cap- 
ital stock of 1250,000, of which |50,000 was paid up. From a small 
beginning the bank has steadily worked up to a lirst class business, 
and has accumulated $(30,000 in surplus and profits, in addition to divi- 
dends paid to its stockholders. Mr. George II. Ilobson, president, 
succeeded Colonel M. II. Fitch some years ago, having previously been 
vice president. The other officers are: John D. Miller, vice presi- 
dent, and A. V. Bradford, cashier, who, with Robert Grant and M. A. 
Rhodes, form the board of directors. This list presents an array of 
names which entitles this bank to the most favorable consideration, 
and commands tlie coniidence of the business community. The busi- 
ness of the bank is of a general character, including deposits, dis- 
counts, loans and collections in all parts of the country. 

The success of the Stockgrowers' National Bank has been as 
marked as the rapid growth of the city, and to-day the institution 
stands as the peer of any financial institution in the state. The 
management is as liberal as is consistent with good and safe banking, 
commanding the confidence of depositors and borrowers to a marked 
degree. 

The next addition to the banking circles of Pueblo w^as the 
organization of the 

WESTERN NATIONAL BANK OF PUEBLO 

in 1881, by W. L. Graham and associates. Organized with a capital 
of $50,000, which was rapidly augmented, until to-day capital and 
surplus amount to |130,000, and deposits amounting to |450,000. 
The phenomenal success of this institution is due almost entirely to 
W. L. Graham, the president, and to Charles E. Saxton, the cashier, 
both competent bankers, conservative and reliable. This institution 
does a general banking business, receives deposits and loans money on 
good security, purchases bonds and issues foreign and domestic 
exchanges, makes collections, etc., etc. Messrs. Graham and Saxton 
are well known citizens of Pueblo, recognized as public spirited and 
very honorable men. 

The South Pueblo National Bank was opened the [same day as 
the Western National, and continued under that style until February, 
1889, when the name was changed to the Central National Bank. 
The officers are: D. L. Holden, president; H. L. Holden, acting 
cashier. Capital paid in, $50,000 ; surplus, $12,000 ; undivided 
profits, $7,230. The bank is doing a very fair business. 

The Bank of Pueblo (not incorporated) is owned by Frederick 
Rohrer, who is also cashier; A. J. McQuaid assistant cashier. This 
bank began business April 10th, 1882, and has enjoyed the confidence. 



TOO The Great West. 

of the people, and lias transacted a large general banking business, to 
the entire satisfaction of its customers. Tlie bank issues drafts, let- 
ters of credit, etc., upon all large cities of America and Europe. 



MANUFACTURES. 



PUEBLO presents unequalled advantages for manufactures of 
almost every class and kind. Already some mammoth estab- 
lishments are liei-e — one, the Colorado Coal and Iron Company, is one 
of the largest in America. 

COLORADO COAL AND IRON COMPANY. 

The Colorado Coal and Iron Company owns 100,000 acres of 
land, consisting of coal, iron, lire clay and limestone deposits, in vari- 
ous pai-ts of the state, and of agricultural and pastural lands located 
mainly in the Arkansas valley between and around Puelilo and Canon 
City. It also owns the town sites of South Pueblo and Bessemer, 
though a large portion of the former is now held l)y residents of that 
portion of the city. This company has ten coal mines opened on its 
land in various parts of the state from which it is mining at present 
about one million tons per year. The coal varies in quality from dry 
domestic to coking and gas coal. The company has two coking 
plants, one at El Moro, the other at Crested Butte, of 375 ovens, and 

})roduces a quality of coke equal to that of Connellsville, Penn. It 
las at P>essemer, adjoining Pueblo, an iron and steel works, consisting 
of two l)last furnaces of a combined capacity of 200 tons, a Bessemer 
converting works, steel rail mill, nail mill, puddling works, merchant 
bar mill, pipe foundi-y and machine shops. 

It has adjacent to the city of Puel)lo 65,000 acres of land, which 
it proposes to iri'igate by means of a large canal taken out of the 
Arkansas Iliver, and which requires only a water supply to make it the 
finest agricultural land in the state. This land is capable of support- 
ing a population which will be dependent on Pueblo for trading and 
market. This trade alone will make a volume of business amounting 
to $1,000,000 a year for Pueblo merchants, and will increase the popu- 
lation in and around Pueblo by at least 10,000. , This canal, surveys 
of which lia\^ already been made, will probably be completed during 
the coming year. 

The ii-on works of this company have proved that Colorado can 
successfully nuuiufacture Bessemer steel and merchantable iron. For 
the making of the former, Colorado possesses all the varieties of ores 
necessary even to manganic ore for the making of speigel. The iron 
mines of the Colorado Coal and Iron Company are located at Calumet, 
near Salida, at Hot Springs, near Villa Grove, near Gunnison and at 
Ashcroft. A lai^e trade in nails, merchant bar iron and iron pipes 



The Great West. 101 

for city mains has already been established. During the past year the 
Colorado (yoal and Iron Company has had in its employ a large force 
of men, and has paid in wages |1, 250,000. 

During 1888 the output of the company's works at Bessemer 
was: Pig iron of all kinds, including speigel, 20,800 tons; steel 
rails, 8,040 tons; merchant bar iron, 5,300 tons; cast iron water pipe, 
1,340 tons; nails, 45,080 kegs; railroad spikes, 1,330 kegs. The out- 
put of the company's coal mines was about 1,000,000 tons, valued at 
the mines at |2,250,000. 

smelters. 

It is, in fact and theory, the chief smelting point in the West. 
Beginning with the year 1889, it has more furnaces than any other 
town in the state, and its output will rapidly increase in volume. It 
has three smelting plants for the treatment of ores containing gold, 
silver and lead. The oldest, the Pueblo Smelting and liefining Com- 
pany, began operations in Pueblo in the year 1878. Its works and 
grounds now cover an area of forty acres. For 1888 its output was 
as follows: 

Lead, 8,230 tons, value $ 717,656 00 

Silver, 2,089,705 ozs., value 1,953,874 18 

Gold, 10,324 ozs., value 213,397 08 

Copper, 105,645 ozs., va,lue ' 17,959 65 

Total $2,902,886 91 

At these mammoth works bullion is produced from the ores, and 
from this is separated and relined gold, silver, lead and copper. In 
the lead refinery, besides pig and antimonial lead, lead pipe and bar 
lead are made. 

The average number of men employed during 1888 was 359. 
Total wages paid, |307,446. 

This company, composed mainly of Boston capitalists, has been 
erecting, at a vast expense, a mammoth copper smelting works, for 
the purpose of extracting merchantable copper from western ores, and 
it will be in operation early in the present year. At least ^250,000 
have been expended in the construction of this plant. 

The Colorado Smelting Company, with four furnaces, produces 
only lead bullion carrying gold and silver. This plant is noted among 
mining men for the extreme neatness and system shown about the 
works. Its output for 1888 was: Silver, 1,027,500 ozs.; gold, 4,858 
ozs.; lead, 8,330 tons. The average number of men employed, 140; 
total wages paid, $117,530.65. 

The Philadelphia Smelting and Refining Company started its 
furnaces for the first time just at the close of the year. Mr. Ed, R. 
Holden, president of the company, has conducted smelters in Leadville 
and Denver, but found that Puel)lo had the most advantages for cheap 
smelting; so, associating with him the Messrs. Guddenheim, of Phil- 



102 



The Gkeat W esi 



adelphia, the company decided upon Pueblo. Being tlie last built, 
this smelting plant is complete in its facilities for treating ores, con- 
taining all the labor-saving devices kno^^^l to the smelting world. 
The estimated cost of the buildings and machinery is ^800,000. 
Fully 800 men hav-e been employed about the works for several 
months. The capital stock of this company has recently been 
increased to 11,225,000 paid in, and the capacity of the works will 
be at once doubled by the addition of six more blast and twelve more 
roasting furnaces. In May the building of a refinery will be com- 
menced. This will be furnished with all the latest improved appli- 
ances. When this is completed, by autumn, the Philadelphia will be 
the largest and most complete works of its kind in the world. 




Colorado Smelting Company at Pueblo. 

In connection with the smelting business are the two public 
sampling companies. 

The Pueblo Public Sampling Works was in continued operation 
during the entire year, doing a steadily increasing business. 

The Central Ore Sampling Company completed its woi-ks late in 
December, and are already doing an excellent business. 

AVith the increased facilities for smelting ores, the value of 
Pueblo as a public ore market increases. When miners can save from 
one to two dollars on a ton of ore in freight charges alone, they will 
not be anxious to ship elsewhere, provided Pueblo can use their ores. 



The Great West. lOB 

PUBLIC STREET RAILWAYS. 

The Pueblo Street Railway Company grows apace with the city, 
•and furnishes excellent acconiniodations. The company now have laid 
thirteen and one-half miles of track, over which are run fourteen cai's. 
They have in their barns on Cnion avenue twenty-one cars in all, and 
four more will be added to those running. These additions will be 
put on the Victoria avenue route and extend to the Insane Asylum 
from Elizabeth street. On their pay roll are the names of fifty men 
on an average, drivers receiving |55 per month. The aggregate paid 
out each month to employees will touch $2,000. In the barns they 
keep eighty-one horses. To feed these, $600 is paid out monthly for 
feed. This food supply is all purchased in Pueblo and is chopped in 
the barn. It is the intention of the company to soon commence lay- 
ing the additional track to that already down, which, of course, will 
press additional cars into service. 

TLe iirst car leaves the barn at 6 a. m., and the last one comes in 
at 11:09 at night. Between the above hours the aggregate distance 
traveled by the cars daily is 1,300 miles; so it will be seen they are 
not very idle. The company's property has a frontage on Union 
avenue of iifty feet, running straight through the block to Main 
street. On this are built the tine commodious barns, car houses, feed 
bins, blacksmith and repair shops,^etc. They do their own repairing, 
horseshoeing, etc., having competent men in charge of each depart- 
ment. Thus it will be seen that the Pueblo Street Railway Company 
is quite an important acquisition to this city's many enterprises, and 
causes a large sum of money to be circulated monthly. 

BUSINESS CONVENIENCES. 

The Colorado Telephone C'Ompany has an exchange here, with 
200 subscribers. Telephone communication is established between 
Pueblo and Canon City and all intermediate points, and northward to 
Denver, a distance of 120 miles. The service is excellent. 

The Western Union Telegraph Company has two city oflices, 
where live employees are kept constantly at M'ork receiving and sending 
messages. 

The Pueblo Gas and Electric Light Company supply the city with 
gas and with two kinds of electric light — the Thompson-Houston arc 
and the Ileisler incandescent. The former light is used by the city 
to illuminate the principal streets. The Pueblo Light, Heat and 
Power Company supply the Westinghouse system of incandescent 
light to a large number of consumers. 

The City Water Works supply all that portion of the city north 
of the river at low rates. The source of supply is the Arkansas 
River. 

The South Pueblo Water Company have an exclusive franchise in 
all the territory south of the river. 



104 



Ihe Geeat West. 



SCHOOLS. 

THE public schools of Pueblo will compare favorably witli those of 
the older cities iu the East in the earnestness of the pupils and in 
methods of instruction. There are two school districts in the city, one 
on each side of the rivei-. In district No. 1, on the north side, tlie 
affairs are njanaged by a board of five directoi's, who select a superin- 
tendent, and, with his advice, select the teachers. The course of 
study represents eight years' work in the primary grades and four 
years in the High School. In the primary grades it embraces, besides 




Central High School on the Mesa. 

the fundamental studies, drawing and special work in English litera- 
ture from memory exercise, to the analysis of classic literature of the 
best English and American writers. The High School course includes 
higher mathematics, the natural sciences, Latin and literature studies 
throughout the course. Honest work is done. In this district tlie 
school buildings are three in number — the CenteTinial, contaiTiing 
eight rooms, with 400 sittings; the Hinsdale, liaving six rooms and 
324 sittings, and the Fontaine, with four rooms and VM) sittings. 
They are of modern design, constructed on tiie most improved plans 
to secure comfort and healtli. JSTineteen teachers are employed. The 



The Great Wesu' 



105 



present enrollment is about 900, including seventy in the ITigli School. 
The district owns a reference library of 400 volumes. 

The present crowded condition of the schools has warned the 
directors to prepare for the increasing demands, and during the past 
year they purchased three desirable sites for the erection of more 
buildings. • 

District No. 20, on the south side, is in a very prosperous con- 
dition. It has four buildings — the Central High School, built of pink 
lava stone, containing seven rooms, with 400 sittings, and three build- 
ings for primary grades, containing eight rooms, with 470 sittings. 
Seventeen teachers are employed, besides the city superintendent and 




Hinsdale School, North Side. 



his assistant. In these schools considerable attention has been paid to 
kindergarten work in the primary grades, the design being to work 
largely into the manual training instruction. During the past year 
the directors spent about |3,000 in purchasing reference books, sup- 
plies and appliances of various kinds. 



106 



The Gkeat West. 



Ill private and special schools, Pueblo is fortunate. Tlie Sisters 
of Loretto conduct a most excellent school for young misses. Besides 
rudimentary instruction, the more graceful accomplishments of music 
and painting are taught. Being a boarding school, all the comforts of 
tlie home are secured. 

• In connection Avith St. Patrick's Church, a free dfiy school is con- 
ducted for children of both sexes. 

One wing of the Southern Methodist College is completed and 
was fitted out late in the fall of 1888. A competent corps of 
instructors were secured, and the school started ofP in good style. 

Besides these, there are private classes in painting, in vocal and 
instrumental music, taught by competent artists. 



LORETTO ACADEMY, PUEBLO. 

FOR VorXG LADIES. 

This well conducted academy, under the charge of the 
Sisters of Loretto, and is one of the institutions of Pueblo of 

which the citizens are justly proud. 
The academy was founded in 1877, 
and began with a limited number of 
pupils. The institution, however, 
has made rapid strides, and had, at 
the end of the spring term, 150 
pupils and ten teachers. Special 
^1 attention is given to music; in that 
art this institution has earned an 
enviable reputation. Board, tuition 
and washing, per session, $100. 
Tuition on piano, with use of instrument, per session, $80. For 
full particulars and catalogue, address the 

Mother Superior, Pueblo, Colo. 




(MIURCHES. 



Pueblo is well supplied with churches, there being seventeen in 
number, as follows: Baptist, two; Catholic, three; Christian, one; 
Congregational, two; Episcopal, three; Methodist, four, and Presby- 
terian, two. 



The Gkeat West. ] 07 



SOCIAL LIFE IN PUEBLO. 

^T^IIE leading feature noticeable in western life is the sociability of the 
A people. ^ There is a heartiness in tlie street salutations, a frankness 
in conversation in parlor, church and in all places where the people 
congregate, which attracts the attention of an eastern man. In this 
the people of eastern states are amazingly ignorant. Most amusing 
questions are asked of visitors from western cities as to the class of 
people living in the West, their habits, manners and customs. 

Colorado draws citizens from every state in the Union, from 
nearly every country of Europe. Educated and cultured people of the 
New England and Middle Atlantic states seek in Colorado renewed 
health, or to iind here better opportunities for business. Many of tlie 
best families of the South are represented in our towns and country 
districts. Graduates of Harvard, Yale, Cornell and Ann Arbor are 
seeking in Colorado to build up a good name and a snug competence. 
The news stands sell the leading magazines and journals of the coun- 
try. Popular books, the leading topics of the day, are as ably dis- 
cussed here as in any old community. 

Because Pueblo depends mainly on its manufactures and com- 
mercial business for support, no one need suppose that, in point of 
culture and intelligence, the city is far behind its neiglibors. In the 
factories are students of the problems of the day, men who can talk 
intelligibly on subjects of culture and of the line arts. Social clubs 
for mutual improvement are in line condition; clubs where men meet 
to debate on topics covering a wide range; ladies meet in afternoons 
to read on special lines of literature, science or art. Young people 
have their social times. Representatives of the leading art firms of 
New York and Boston iind purchasers in Pueblo of rare etchings or 
choice art treasures. In music, we have cultivated voices and line 
performers on the piano. Instructors of well attested sivill find large 
classes anxious to improve their knowledge. In the domain of art, 
Pueblo is justly proud of its well known landscape painter, Mr. 
Joseph Hitching, whose studio is visited by hundreds of strangers 
each week to find therein masterpieces of art. 

In the line of amusements, the amateur entertainments given for 
charitable and benevolent purposes display an amount of talent sur- 
prising for a city of the size of Pueblo. Sweet charity is not for- 
gotten in this busy city. The Ladies' Benevolent Union, uni(pie in 
its system of w^ork, accomplishes in a year a vast amount of good, 
relieving suffering, clothing the needy, saving from misery many a 
wayward one. This association is supported by voluntary contribu- 
tions, and its published monthly reports show how firmly it is estab- 
lished in the hearts of our citizens. Other organizations for benevo- 
lent purposes do much good. The Sisters of St. Mary have a neat, 



108 The Great Wes'i 

well-kept hospital, where many a young man, far from home, has been 
as well cared for as though he were at home. 

Not the least of the pleasant social features of Pueblo, are the 
number of home entertainments given each winter. The home life 
can be readily imagined in a drive about the city. It is a constant 
surprise to the tourist to note the beauty of the well-kept lawns, the 
flowers in the windows, the sounds of mirth and joy from happy 
voices. 

secret and benevolent societies. 

Pueblo is well supplied with secret and benevolent societies: Of 
the Masonic order, there are seven; Odd Fellows, eight; Knights of 
Pythias, three; Knights of Honor, one; Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, four; Good Templars, one; besides which there are several 
military organizations and working men's associations. 



PUEBLO CITY EOVERNMENT. 

THE city government is conducted by a mayor and fourteen alder 
men. Until three years ago there were three separate city govern- 
ments — North Pueblo, Central Pueblo and South Pueblo. The mani- 
fest advantage of three distinct corporations, with streets only 
dividing them, caused the people in 1886 to vote almost mianimously 
for consolidation, the result being a strong government and an influen- 
tial city. The differences of the past have all been settled, and the 
united cities are working for the common interest with the result of 
more than doubling the population in three years, and to-day Pueblo 
points with pride to her 30,000 industrious, happy and contented 
people. ' Population is steadily increasing, and in 1890 it is con- 
tidently believed that Pueblo will contain at least 50,000 human 
beings. 

Last year witnessed the completion of three excellent bridges, 
substantial levees and sewer pipes laid, streets leveled and graded, and 
a city hall, to cost $50,000, begun (now completed). 

The police department consists of a marshal, a night captain and 
thirteen policemen, whose salaries aggregate $26,600 a year. The 
arrests average 160 a month, and the receipts from flues about $700 
per month. Of the arrests about sixty-flve are from drunkenness, 
fifty-flve for violation of ordinances, and the remainder minor offenses. 
There has in the past year been but fpw serious crimes committed, and 
the community is as orderly as any city of its size in the country. 

The flre department consists of a volunteer and a paid depart- 
ment (the latter just inaugurated). The volunteer department is 
equipped with seven hose carts and one hook-and-ladder truck; while 
the paid department is equipped with one of the latest improved flre 
engines and patent extension hook-and-ladder outflt and trucks and 



The Great West. 



109 




ill. MBiJt^" -H 







City Hall, Pueblo. 



110 The Great West. 

two hose carts, employing ten as flue horses as any department in the 
West can boast of. The first fire engine is named the ''A. T. Stewart, 
No. 1," in honor of Aklerman Stewart. The extension hook-and- 
ladder truck is named "A. A. Grome, No. 1,'' in honor of Mayor 
Gronie. Aklermen Lamkin, Caffray and Lloyd compose the fire com- 
mittee of the council, and to their untiring energy and discretion the 
city of Pueblo owes its present excellent lire equipment. 

Hon. Andrew A. Grome, the mayor of this progressive city, is 
favorably known as a reliable and progressive business man of Pueblo; 
he was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1856, and came to the United 
States with his parents when he was eight years of age. The first set- 
tlement of his parents was at Cincinnati. At the early age of twelve 
he came westward as far as Kansas and went to work in a brewery. 
In 1870, appreciating the fact that an education was necessary for 
prime success in this country, he attended college in St. Vincent's, 
Pennsylvania, for two years. Returning to Cincinnati, he deter- 
mined to acquire "the art preservative of all arts," and entered a 
printing office, and came out of it a full fledged printer. But his 
health had succumbed to the confinement of the trade, and in 1876 he 
started upon an extensive tour of travel through Louisiana, Arkansas 
and Texas, settling himself for some time at Texarkana. But in 1878 
he again started upon a traveling tour, visiting the United States of 
Colombia, South America, and subsequently Aspinwall, where he 
remained for a time, and then visited Carthagena, Baranquilla and 
Costa Rica. Returning to Panama, he set sail for New York, fully 
satisfied with travel in South and Central America. Leaving New 
York he ao-ain sought the West and came to Wichita, Kansas, whei-e 
he arrived in the spring of 1879. In the fall of the same year he 
came to Pueblo, and here his wanderings came to an end, for he found 
in that city all the elements of. prosperity and future growth that he 
desired. Here he planted his stakes and entered into active business 
relations, becoming the local agent of the Denver Brewing Company. 
He is succeeding admirably as a business man, and is deservedly 
popular among his fellow citizens. He was elected a member of the 
board of trustees of Central Pueblo in 1882, afterwards city clerk, 
justice of the peace and police magistrate. After the consolidation of 
the three divisions of the city, he was twice elected to serve as alder- 
man of the second ward. Mr. Grome served as president of the 
■council last year. Last spring he was elected mayor of the city. On 
every hand Mayor Grome receives the applause of the citizens for his 
just administration and business-like methods in despatching the busi- 
ness of the city. From personal observance we can say. Mayor 
Grome makes one of the best presiding otticers we have ever seen. 
He is a young man less than 33 years of age (the youngest mayor ot 
any large city in America), and we are certain to see Mr. Grome one 
of the foremost men of Colorado. 



The Great West. Ill 

T. S. SMYTHE, CITY CLERK, 

Native of Ireland; came to America in 1863, to Colorado in 1868, to 
Pueblo in 1870. Engaged in grocery business until about six years 
ago, when he embarked in tlie cattle business in Arizona, returning to 
Pueblo about two years ago. Has served as city clerk since July, 
1888 — lirst under Mayor Royal and at present under Mayor Grome. 
Mr. Smytlie makes an efficient officer, and is an aflEable gentleman. 

W. p. GARTLEY, CITY TREASURER, 

"Was born near Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, in the year 1859. Came to 
Colorado in 1877; engaged in the railroad business until about three 
years ago, when he was employed by McCord, Bragdon & Co., whole- 
sale grocers, as shipping clerk. Was elected city treasurer in the 
spring of 1888, and was re-elected in the spring of 1889. Mr. 
Gartley enjoys the confidence of the citizens of Pueblo to a marked 
degree, and is prominently spoken of as a probable candidate for the 
position of county treasurer in the approaching election. 

A. T. STEWART. 

Alderman Stewart came to Pueblo in 1876. In the early days 
he was the blacksmith for the Barlow & Sanderson stage line. In 
1877 Mr. Stewart opened up a shop on Union avenue, where he plied 
his trade with great profit until 1885. In addition to his blacksmith 
trade, Mr. Stewart carried a large stock of wagons and carriages, and 
during his business career he earned an enviable reputation among his 
fellow townsmen as a shrewd financier and expert workmen. In the 
spring of 1886 he was elected alderman from the third ward, and has 
been re-elected at each successive election. Was chairman of the 
finance committee during BoyaPs administration and was reappointed 
at the beginning of Grome's term. The council have lately secured a 
new fire engine (their first), and, out of compliment to Alderman 
Stewart, the council voted unanimously to name the first steamer, the 
"A. T. Stewart, No. 1." 

GEORGE F. WEST. 

Alderman West was born in Simpson County, Kentucky. Came 
to Colorado in the spring of 1880, in company with his brother, John 
T. West, and engaged in mining for the La Plata Mining and Smelt- 
ing Company at Leadville, Mr. West has been more or less actively 
engaged in mining ever since that date, having extensive interests at 
White Pine Camp, Gunnison County. He came to Pueblo in Decem- 
ber, 1885, and engaged in the furniture business, in which he has 
built up a large trade, and to-day carries a very choice stock of goods 
in a spacious store on Union avenue. In April, 1889, he w^as elected 
alderman from the fifth ward. It is a notable fact that, while that 
ward polls a Ilepul)lican majority, Mr. West, being a staunch Demo- 
crat, was elected, with a majority of two to one. 



112 The Great "West. 



J. H. ELSPASS. 



Mr. Elspass is the alderman from the third ward; born in Detroit, 
Michigan; came to Pueblo in the summer of 1877, and was engaged 
with the Atchison. Topeka tV: Santa Fe Ilaihvay as locomotive 
engineer until May, 1888, at which time he was compelled to resign, 
on account of poor health. lie then engaged in the manufacture of 
cigars, and made some extensive real estate deals, which have resulted 
very favorably. As a manufacturer of cigars, he is regarded in the 
lead, his brands being among the best offered in the market. In 
April, 1889, he was chosen alderman from the third ward, which 
usually polls a Democratic majority of over 200. Mr. Elspass, a 
staunch Ilepublican as he is, secured a majority over one of the mo&t 
popular Democrats in that ward. 



CHARLES H. LAMKIN. 



Mr. Lamkin, the alderman from the lifth ward, was born in 
Washington County, Arkansas; came to Pueblo in the summer of 
1872 and engaged in contracting and building, continuing the same 
for twelve years. In April, 1873, he was elected a member of the 
board of trustees of the Town of South Pueblo, serving one term. 
He was re-elected in 1876 and in 1880, and in the spring of 1888 was 
elected alderman from the fifth ward of the united cities of South 
Pueblo, Central Puebkj and Pueblo. In 1883 was, appointed county 
commissioner by Governor Grant, serving one term. In 1884 he was 
appointed chief of the lire department. He was appointed deputy 
collector of internal revenue in 1887. Owing to his perfect familiarity 
with the fire depaatment, he -was made chairman of the fire and water 
committee of the council, M'hich important committee has just secured 
a first class lire equipment, which includes a lire engine of the latest 
improved pattern, a patent extension hook-and-ladder truck and two 
hose carriages. With Mr. Lamkin on this committee is associated 
Aldermen Thomas P. Lloyd and — Caffray, two very efficient men. 

TUOMAS V. LLOYD. 

Mr. Lloyd, alderman from the second ward, was born in New 
Haven, Comiecticut; came to Puel)lo May 11, 1882, and engaged 
in the manufacture of cigars, in Mhich line he has successfully 
engaged ever since. His manufactory is centrally located, and he 
enjoys a leading position in both the wholesale and retail tobacco 
trade of the city. He employs eiglit cigar makers, M'ho are said to be 
expert in the manufacture of hue goods. In April last he was elected 
alderman from the second -ward, a Republican stronghold, by a 
majority of ninety-four, which, considering Mr. Lloyd's pronounced 
Democracy, is certainly a great compliment. 




Mayor A. A. GROME, Pueblo. 









THOMAS P. LLOYD, 
Alderman. 



W. P. GARTLEY, 
City Treasurer, Pueblo. 




GEORGE F. WEST, 
Alderman, 




T. S. SMYTHE, 
City Clerk, Pueblo. 




JOHN NORRIS, 
Senior Member of the Real Estate firm of Norris h. Struble, Pueblo, Coo. 




Alderman A. T. STEWART, 
After whom Pueblo's first fire engine was named. 



The Great West. 113 



HOTELS. 

THE Fariss Hotel is the most popular hotel in Pueblo, commanding 
as it does the largest patronage, and, as a moderate priced hotel, 
it is excelled by none in America. Prices, |1.50 to |2 per day, 
which, with its central location, makes it the home of the commercial, 
health or pleasure tourist. One grand feature in connection with this 
hotel is the artesian well, which flows 750 barrels per day of magnetic 
mineral water, wliich, upon analysis by Messrs. Von Schulz & Low, 
chemists and assayers, of Denver, Colo., showed the following results: 

Sodium chloride 2.42 grrains per gallon. 

Sodium sulphate 41.92 " " " 

Calcium sulphate 3.43 

Calcium carbonate 6.28 " " " 

Magnesium carbonate 6.16 " '• " 

Ferrous carbonate 0.91 " " " 

The well has two outdoor discharge pipes and a large number in the 
bathing house, which is attached to the hotel. The bath house is so 
arranged as to supply hot or cold tub baths and plunge bath. The 
plunge is a large artificial pool, 60 feet long by 30 feet wide, and, in 
depth, 4 feet at one end and 8 feet at the other. The temperature of 
the water as it flows from the well, summer and winter, is 
77 degrees. J. R. Fariss, the genial proprietor, is a model host, 
taking great pains to see that his guests are well cared for. The hotel 
is one block from the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway depot. 
Cars pass the house every Ave minutes, communicating with every 
portion of the city of Pueblo and the Union Depot. The hotel con- 
tains more than 100 rooms, which are nearly always filled. Mr. Fariss 
now has under advisement plans for doubling the present capacity of 
his house. Mr. Fariss' friends are nrgiug him to do so, that he may 
be able to accommodate all who apply. The growing fame of his 
mineral bath will soon force him to build a house of 400 or 500 
rooms. 



PUEBLO JOURNALS. 



PUEBLO has three very good daily papers — the Chiefiain, a 
morning paper, being the only one possessed of the Associated 
Press franchise; the Pueblo Press and the Pueblo Star are the even- 
ing papers. Thus it will be seen Pueblo has a fair start in the jour- 
nalistic field. Beside the dailies, Pueblo has several weekly and 
monthly papers of more or less note, and the Review and Standard.^ 
a semi- weekly paper, that will, it is said, ere long blossom out into a 
morning daily, to compete with the long-time-ago established Chieftain. 



114 



The Gkeat West. 




The Great Wicj. 115' 



THE CHIEFTAIN. 



This large and influential journal was established in 1868 by Dr. 
M. Beshear and Sara. McBride, with Governor George A. Hinsdale 
(since deceased) and Judge Wilber F. Stone (now of Denver) as 
editors. The flrst issue contained a notice of the death of the famous 
scout, Kit Carson, at Bogg's Kanch, then in Pueblo County^ together 
with resolutions of respect passed by a club of his friends in Pueblo. 
In June, 1869, Captain J, J. Lambert, who was then in the regular 
army, came into possession of tlie weekly Chieftahi^ and placed his 
brother, N. K. Lambert, in cliarge, who had the management of the 
paper till 1873, when Captain J. J. Lambert resigned his position in 
the army and assumed full charge. The same year a daily edition was 
started, which has steadily gained in popularity, until to-day it has a 
circulation of from 2,500 to 3,000. The first daily Chieftain printed 
was a live-column folio, the Sunday issue containing from twelve to 
sixteen pages. To-day tlie paper is of regular size, six-column folio, 
and is the oldest daily in the state, except the Rocky Mountain News. 
"When the -weekly Chieftain was started there were but three other 
papers published in the state, two of which very soon after suspended 
publication. The Chieftain was the only paper published in the 
state south of Denver, and at present has a circulation of 2,000. It 
is considered the principal weekly paper in the state, and enjoys a 
large circulation in Europe, besides being read in every state in the 
Union. The weekly Chieftain is known as the Colorado Chieftain^ 
under which name it was started. It is the oldest weekly outside of 
the Rocky Mountain News. Captain J. J. Lambert is the president 
and manager; John C. Latshaw, secretary, and G. G. Withers, editor. 
Mr. Withers has been connected with the paper for twenty years. He 
started as printer's devil in 1869 and worked in all the various depart- 
ments up to twelve years ago, when he was appointed editor, which 
position he has since held with increasing popularity. 

In 1880 Captain Lambert erected the Chieftain building, a large 
imposing structure, on Fourth street, which the citizens of Pueblo are 
justly proud of. Captain J. J. Lambert, to whom great credit is due 
for his untiring efforts in establishing such a readable sheet, served 
through the war as captain of the 9th Iowa Cavalry. He enlisted in 
Dubuque, Iowa, where he was raised; he also served as lieutenant in 
the 5th United States Infantry. In 1871 J. J. Lambert and his 
brother, N. N. Lambert, started the Del IS^orte Prospector. 



THE DAILY PUEBLO PRESS. 



This excellent afternoon paper is published daily by the Press 
Publishing Company (incorporated). This company was started in 
May, 1886, by Colonel .John C. Moore (a brilliant journalist) and John 
A. Hill, who were practically owners of the paper up to November, 
1888, at which time Colonel Moore, who had been editor, retired from 



■116 



The Great "West. 




The Great West. 117 

the paper at that time. W. B. McKinney, who had been business 
manager ahnost from the starting of the paper, became Colonel 
Moore's successor as editor, and was also promoted to the position of 
general manager. The ofhcers of the company are : B. M. Wilson, 
president; A. W. Arrington, secretary, and A. T. Hasslock, business 
manager. The Press started out under favorable circumstances, and 
has steadily gained in influence and in business. When started, 
it was a six-column folio, soon one column was added; finally, in 
March last the demands justified a greater change, and the paper was 
increased to a quarto, with six columns. The paper is newsy and 
spicy, and enjoys a good circulation, averaging about 2,200 daily,, 
there being over 500 regular subscribers to the paper in Utah alone^ 
which is an amount probably not equalled by any other paper in the 
state. The Press contains special telegraphic news of the state and 
the daily local news. General Manager McKinney is about to con- 
clude arrangements to get the United Press Association despatches; 
when he does the Press will take a long step in advance. 



MANUFACTORIES AND BUSINESS FIRMS. 

The following is a list of the hinds and number of lines of busi- 
ness represented in the City of Pueblo: 

Kind of Bdsiness. No. Capital Invested. 
Manufacturers: 

Brooms 1 $ 500 

Smelters and Sampling Works 5 2,500,000 

Cigars 8 10,800 

Crackers and Confectioners 1 35,000 

Bakeries 5 7,500 

Trunks 1 500 

Combination Fencing 1 2,000 

Foundries (iron) 2 30,000 

" (brass) 1 500 

Barb Wire I 30,000 

Bottling Works 1 5,000 

Brick 9 50,000 

Dry Goods, W. and R 1 75,000 

Dry and Fancy Goods, Ret 8 160,000 

Millinery and Notions, " 10 7,000 

Drugs, Ret 11 60,000 

Leather and Findings, Whol 1 9,000 

Saddlery, W. and R 1 12,000 

" Ret , 2 7,000 

Groceries, Exclusive Whol 2 300,000 

" W. and R 3 100,000 

" Ret 35 70,000 

Liquors, Whol 6 47,000 

" W. and R 1 3,000 

" Ret 85 60,000 

Furniture and Carpets, W. and R 2 75,000 

Carpets and Drapery, Ret 1 1,500 



118 



The Great W esi 



Kind of Business. 

Hardware, W. and R 

Ret 

Music 

Jewelry 

Meats, Whol 

Meat Markets 

Photographers 

"J'annery 

Produce and Commission 

Marble 

Second Hand Goods 

Printers and Newspapers 

Restaurants 

Cigars and Tobaccos, W. and R 

" " " Ret 

Wall Paper, Paints, etc., W. and R 

Lumber and Planing Mills 

Hats and Furnishmg Goods 

Teas and Coffee 

Blacksmiths 

Barbers' Supplies 

General Stores 

Plumbers 

Fruit and Confectioners 

Clothing and Gents' Furnishing, W. and R 

" " " " Ret 

Boots and Shoes and Makers 

Pawnbrokers 

Books and Stationery 

Department Store 

Livery 

Undertakers 

Ice 

Tailors 

Wooden ware, Whol 

Hay, Gray and Feed 

Coal, Lime and Cement 

Transfers and Express 

Theatres 

Contractors and Builders 

Real Estate 

Hotels, First Class, and Boarding 

Gas and Electric Light 

Towel Supply Company 

Water Company 

Brewery Agents 

Guns and Ammunition 

Auction 

Merchandise Brokers 

Hides and Pelts 

Queensware 

Sewing Machines 

Laundries 

Dye House 

Bridge Builders 

Florists 

Dairies 

Cheese, Canned Goods and Fish 

Cornice Maker 

Scales 

Stove Fiepairs . 

Upholsterer 



No. 
2 
6 
3 

12 
2 

13 
5 
1 

11 
1 
9 

15 

26 
3 
8 
4 
6 
1 
1 

10 
1 
2 
3 

11 
1 
9 

25 
4 
2 

1 
11 
3 
5 
9 
1 
7 
6 

22 
"3 
50 
50 
28 
2 

1 
2 

6 
1 
1 
3 
3 
2 

4 
3 
1 
1 
5 
3 
1 
1 
1 
1 
o 



Capital Invested, 
55,000 
40,000 
10,000 
67,000 

8,000 

15,000 

10,000 

300 

55,000 

1.000 
25,000 
51,000 
15,000 

4,000 

10,000 

27,000 

300.000 

5,(X)0 

3,000 

5,(X)0 

5,0()0 
2O,(tO0 

6,000 

5,400 

50,000 

150,001) 

60,000 

6,500 
30,000 
35,000 
40,000 

7,(K)0 
25,000 
12,000 
20,000 
40,000 

20,000 



350,000 

1,000 

300,000 

5,000 
3,000 
3,000 
5,000 

2r).0tK) 
2,000 

10,CX)0 
500 

5,000 

2,000 

1,000 

1,500 

500 

200 

500 



The Great West. 

Kind of Business. No. 

Barbers 18 

Junk 2 

Railroad Contractors 6 

Assayers 2 

Painters 12 

Novelty Works 1 

Game, Oysters and Fish 1 

Abstractors 5 

Architects 10 

Artists 10 



119 

Capital Invested, 

7,000 
5,000 

2,500 

5,000 

800 

1,000 




120 



TiTE Geeat West. 




o 




H. D. MOREY, 



President of Puel)lo Oil and Development Company and principal of 
the real estate lirm of II. D. Morey & Co., who are large dealers in 
Puel)lo realty. 



The Great West. 121 



MONTE VISTA, 

EIO GRANDE COUNTY, COLORADO. 

THIS beaiTtiful and prosperous city is situated in the very heart of 
the far-famed San Luis Valley, and is destined to be the metrop- 
olis of that fertile valley. This charming little city was platted in 
the spring of 1884 by the Travelers' Insurance Company, which com- 
pany have, by their enterprise, constructed large canals and made of 
this valley one of the most fertile in the world. For two or three 
years the place was scarcely known, but, by a liberal and eifectual sys- 
tem of advertising the great advantages of this spot as a trading center, 
they have succeeded in t'lrning the attention of thousands to this spot, 
and to-day they boast of a 146,000 hotel, a |12,000 public school 
building, and have lately secured the location of the State Soldiers' 
Home, which was provided for by the late Legislature. Within the 
city limits are sixty artesian wells, flowing strong, steady streams of 
pure water, each of a capacity of one barrel per minute and one of a 
much larger flow, the pressure from these w^ells being strong enough 
to force the water thirty feet in the air. The water has a slight per 
cent, of sulphate of iron, which is not at all unpleasant to the taste, 
and is regarded a very valuable tonic. The altitude is about 7,600 
feet above sea level, so high that it would be uninhabitable were it not 
entirely surrounded by high wind breaking mountains, which, with 
the extremely light, dry air and perpetual sunshine, gives it an excep- 
tional combination of conditions pertaining to both northern and 
southern latitudes, yet wholly unknown to either, to- wit: a cool-all- 
the-year climate, the highest summer temperature in a good house 
being 84 degrees, with winters so mild, that an ordinarily clothed per- 
son can read comfortably in the sun on a south fronting veranda, while 
extremes of heat and cold (winter nights ::re cold) are 20 degrees less 
appreciable than at sea level. Ordinarily there is but little snow and 
scarcely any winter winds. With no hail storms to damage crops, no 
tornadoes, no cyclones, no drouths, no grasshoppers, no chinch bugs, 
and very few other insects, no possible malaria, with summer nights so 
cool as to requh-e two blankets for sleeping purposes, it is unsurpassed 
as a health resort, being peculiarly adapted to asthmatics and con- 
sumptives, curing nearly all who in time make it their permanent 
home, besides being an extra desirable residence locality. The moun- 
tain scenery is magniflcent; the Rio Grande River furnishes the best 
of trout Ashing; the wagon roads, like those of Los Angeles County, 
become more compact and smooth the more they are traveled, while 



1'2'2 The Gkeat AVest, 

comfort and health is in excess of that in any portion of California. 
The surrounding country is full of coal, oil and gas. Very rich mines 
are being developed (ore running from $1,000 to $2,000 per ton) in 
the mountains southwest of Monte Vista, M'hich is located in the 
midst of 300,000 acres of the richest irrigable land, with abundance 
of water to supply it. Monte Vista is a new, growing, enterprising 
prohibition town, has a superior class of citizens, and is beginning to 
assume city airs. It is rapidly ])ecoming an extra desirable residence 
locality. It has a first-class roller process flouring mill, fifteen stores, 
two banks, a planing mill, three lumber yards, three weekly papers, 
three livery stables, large public library, an $8,000 school-house, 
seven churcli organizations, a secular Sunday society, secret societies, 
military company, cornet band, etc. This little city contains a live 
progressive population of 1,500, which is being daily increased with 
the health, pleasure and business seeker. 

Mr. H. H. Marsh has platted a tine tract of land adjoining the 
eastern boundary of the city and has named it Grand View addition to 
Monte Vista. Mr. Marsh is erecting some substantial residences on 
his addition, which he has for sale on easy terms or for rent to tourists 
or health seekers, furnished or unfurnished, and at reasonable rates. 

The Hotel Blanca, recently completed at a cost of $-16,000, 
exclusive of furniture, is now handsomely furnished and opened for 
the reception of guests. O. E. Troth, the genial proprietor, announces 
reduced rates for time guests — regular rates, $3 per day. It is a first- 
class hotel in every respect, and is of ample proportions to accommo- 
date a large number of guests. Mrs. Troth, the wife of the pro- 
prietor of this excellent Hotel Blanca, has written many excellent 
pieces of ' poetry upon the Rocky Mountains, one of which we are 
pleased to acknowledge receipt of, and we gladly give it space: 



Ihe Great West. 



128 




124 The Great West. 



Written for The Great West. 

DEDICATED TO THE "SUNNY SAN LUIS." 

There is not in the wide world a picture so grand 
As the beautiful Rockies in this Occident land. 
The Greek Hesiod on Mt. HalicOn stood, 
But we gain inspiration from Pike's Peak and Mt. Hood, 
And old Blanca, the highest, the king great and bold, 
With his cold heart of stone and veins of pure gold. 
Where the muses for ages have found quiet retreat. 
Nestle close in his shadow, where bright waters meet. 
Grand Sangre de Cristo, the blood of the Christ, 
Like fair vestal virgins, arrayed in pure white, 
A panorama sublime it presents to the eye, 
With the glintings of gold when the sunset is nigh. 
Its deep Alpine gorges, made in fierce volcanic tires. 
See high piled toward Heaven, grand domes and lofty spires; 
And sometimes methinks the hunters of the Holy Grail have sought 
Here to find the chalice that the blood of Christ had caught, 
And ever up through the stillness comes, tender and low, 
The murmuring refrain of bright Rio Grande's flow; 
Past mountains and gorges, past forest and glade, 
How grandly it courses in sunlight and shade; 
There are beauty and freshness, and splendor untold, 
As it flows through valley in ripples of gold. 
And I think, when its banks of fresh verdure are seen, 
Of Eden's still waters and pastures of green. 
Laboring up Veta's side the grandest pass we find, 
And tiaras of flower gems its lofty brow entwined. 
Upward still and heavenward, through sun's bright, dazzling glow. 
Where vapory clouds enwrap the brow of Blanca's crest of snow. 
Near dwelt the dusky forest child, where lands lay low and drear. 
Wild barren tracts for miles and miles, all brown and sear. 
Then came the tide of empire, with quick invention rife. 
Watering all the barren wild — new verdure sprang to life; 
Bright flowers luxuriant rise where silver waters flow, 
And many thousands make their homes where fruits and cereals grow. 

Clara Troth. 



The Great West. 



125 




TOLTEC GORGE 
On line of Denver &. Rio Grande Railway 



126 The Great West, 



CANON CITY. 

CA^OX CITY is situated in one of the loveliest valleys in the 
state; sheltered in winter from rude blasts and protected in smn- 
iiier hy the same oveitowering fastnesses from the heat of the sun. 
Its population is al)out 4,(300 inhalntants. Nature has been lavish of 
her means in this delightfully tempered valley, for it possesses the 
finest vein of bituminous coal in the western country and only equaled 
by a single vein in Pennsylvania. She is not merely rich in her inex- 
hkustible coal supply, but also abounds in a varied supply of building 
stone, tire and potter's clay, variegated marble, oil and gold and silver 
mines within the borders of the country. 

Canon City stands at an elevation of 5,287 ieet above sea level. 
The dryness of this entire section, the thinness of the air, the freedom 
from moisture and immunity from high winds, in connection with 
almost constant sunshine, make the climatic features of this city 
unrivaled. The city is delightfully provided with pleasant thorough- 
fares, shaded from the rays of the sun by rows of large trees, ^xliich 
line both sides of the principal streets. The Arkansas River thnvs 
through the city and has a fall of forty feet to the mile, sufiicient to 
run a number of large factories on its banks. A large Houringniill is 
operated by this valuable water power. Aside from the advantages of 
this uniform flow of water, coal is cheap, being mined within the city 
limits. The city is well provided with good public schools, excellent 
ciiurches, a pul>lic library, a telephone system, electric light plant, 
splendid police and fire departments, and, in short, all the varied ])ara- 
])hernalia of a progressive, prosperous city. The city has two good 
liotels — the McClure House and St. Cloud — both excellent hostelries, 
which rank among the first in the state. 

Conspicuous among the business men of Canon City is the firm 
of Harding Brothers, composed of T. M. Harding and L. L. Harding. 
These gentlemen have done much during their residence in Canon to 
bring it to its present prosperous condition. They have a large and 
commodious store, which is utilized for the display of their immense 
stock of goods, which embraces a full line of hardware, stoves, house 
furnishing goods, cutlery, etc. The firm is also largely engaged in 
real estate, and are among the most active in that business. They are 
engaged in every branch of the business, l)ut make a specialty of their 
own property, which consists of a lai-ge addition of nearly 700 acres 
lying directly northeast of the city, in which there are many fine lots 
at exceedingly low prices. The Messrs. Harding Brothers have spared 
neither money nor labor in making their addition the most attractive 
portion of the city as a residence location. 



Thtc Great West. 



127 




On the line of the Denver and 
Rio Grande Railway. 



In long-forgotten Springs, w hen He w ho taught, 

Amid the oUve groves of Syrian hills — 

Wayfaring by the blossom -bordered rills. 
From sparrow, fig-tree, vine — a lesson caught — 
He marked pure lillies which the sun had 
wrought, 

In crucible whence molten gold distils. 

"Consider these," He said, yet shadow fills — 
As of the coming Cross- His prophet-thought- 

It soon should deepen o'er the flower-full land 
But when with passion past He death defied, 

With living lilies 'was the dark cross spanned. 
The lilies bloom upon the prairie wide, 

A stainless cross is reared by Nature's hand, 
And plain and height alike keep Easter-tide. 

M. V- DONAGHE. 



■ f« "^ 



is,'^Ai*r--ji: 



128 



The Gkeat "West. 



■ r'^'"' 


':J 


. ' 'V . . ■ : 


^ 


fat •^i-.^isimaF^ 






Mother Grundy, Clear Creek Canon, Colo 
On line of Union Pacific Railway. 



The Great West. 129 



U 



CHAPTER XV. 

UTAH-1B47 TD 1BB3. 

fTAII TEERITORY was established in 1850 out of the northeast 
third of the Mexican cession in 1848 to the United States, and 
included all of its present limits, nearly all of that which afterwards 
became the State of Nevada, and about one-half of the area now em- 
braced within the State of C!olorado. 

The territory was named after the famous Ute trilje of Indians 
that inhabited that region at the time of its acquisition by the National 
(Tovernment. The Mormons had, however, been led into the Salt Lake 
valley l)y Rrigham Young, in July, the year before, and that little 
band constituted the only white settlement in the territory, and were 
the actual discoverers and explorers of the tei-ritory. 

In 1850, when the territory was organized by act of Congress, 
Brigham Young was appointed its Governor, and Salt Lake becoming 
the seat of the Territorial Government, began to assume the propor- 
tions and aspects of a city. The Mormons rebelled in 1857 against 
the National Government, which rebellion was only quelled by the 
speedy dispatch of Federal troops to' the territory. They established 
a post (Fort Douglas), which overlooked the city, and was so arranged 
as to be able to destroy the city in a very short time, and by that con- 
stant menace the Government has since been able to check any exten- 
sive resistance, which, however, has not been anticipated for many 
years, and the fort is now used more as a park than a menace of war. 
The discovery of gold caused many gentiles to flock to the territory, 
until now it is believed the Mormons are in the minority in the two 
principal cities of the territory — Salt Lake and Ogden. 

In 1861, Congress passed an act establishing the Territories of 
Nevada and Colorado, which cut the limits of Utah down, and in 1866 
an additional strip was detached from Utah, and added to the then 
organized State of Nevada, which left the territory with its present 
boundaries, comprising 81,970 square miles. 

Utah is an immense basin, elevated about 4,000 to 5,000 feet 
above the level of the sea, surrounded by high mountains 7,500 to 
13,500 feet. There are no considerable rivers in the territory. The 
Green, Grand and Colorado rivers flow across the southeast corner of 
the state; the Santa Clara, across the southwest corner; other rivers 
all flowing into the Great Salt Lake. This great valley is formed by 
the Rocky Mountains on the east, and Sierra Nevadas on the west. 



l.'iO The Gkeat AVest. 

Minor ranges extend north and sontli at various intervals of 15 to 50 
miles. The Wahsath range, near tlie center of the territory, forms the 
only considerable mountains in Utah. Some of the peaks of this range 
are at an altitude of 12,000 to 12,500 feet. 

Xumerons hot and cold • mineral springs and salt lakes are 
found throughout the territory, none of them except the Great 
(Salt Lake, being of more than local notoriety. The majority of 
the valuable springs are either on the banks or near this lake. The 
rocks are mostly primitive, and the mountains are rich in granite, 
jasper, syenite, porpliyry, etc., showing everywhere evidences of vol- 
canic action, (xood buildincr stone of all kinds and character abounds 
within easy reach of Salt Lake City, and other important cities of the 
territory. Gold, silver, lead, copper and zinc ai-e found in the AYah- 
satch mountains in quite considerable quantities. Tlie output of the 
territory for 1888 of those metals amounted to ^7,557.241. Coal has 
been found of fair quality and quantity in Utah, suthcient for local use, 
and after developing further, may prove to be one of Utah's principal 
elements of wealth. Asphaltuiu and gilsonite are found in almost un- 
limited quantities, suita1)le for pa\ing, painting, etc.. and will add 
largely to the general Mealtli of this favored territory. Pine and fir 
constitute the native timber; other trees grow when planted and 
cai"ed for. T^tah a])ounds in all kinds of wild game, and her streams 
are alive witli lish of many varieties, such as salmon trout, mountain 
trout, perch, pike and bass. The climate reseml)k»s Colorado, severe 
in high altitudes, and mild in the valleys, described more particularly 
in the article which follows on Salt Lake. 

T^tah, like Colorado, depends almost entirely upon irrigation for 
the utilization of its rich soil for the cultivation of lield crops. The 
territory is quite well provided with railway facilities, and has direct 
connection with San Francisco, Portland, Denver and Omaha. 

In 1886 L'^tah cultivated crops as follows : 13,330 acres pro- 
ducing 207,000 bushels of corn, valued at ^1()0.200; 101,704 acres 
producing 1,541,000 bushels of wheat, valued at |955,420; 2.204 
acres producing 32,000 bushels of rye, vabied at $17,<)00; 28,704 
acres pnxhuMug 858,000 l)usliels of oats, valued at |343,2O0; 20.417 
acres producing 470,000 bushels of barley, valued at $230,300; 11,500 
acres producing 978,000 bushels of potatoes, valued at $352,080; 
124,848 acres producing 150,120 tons of hay, valued at $1,113,840— 
total value of field crops, $3,172,040. 

L^tah contained January 1st, 1888, the folloAving farm animals: 
120,692 head of horses, valued at $4,906,026; 8,()86 head of mules, 
valued at $201,668; 49,878 head of milch cows, valued at $1,259,420; 
435,000 head of oxen and otlier cattle, valued at $7,292,733; 1,335.000 
head of sheep, valued at $2,594,172; 40,118 head of hogs, valued at 
$286,846— total, 1,984,374 head of live stock, valued at $16,540,865, 



The Geeat West, 181 

Avliicli, added to tlie value of field crop.s, makes a farm value Jan. Ist^ 
1888, of $19,713,505. 

Utah has stood manfully side by side Avith Colorado iu the deep 
harbor movement, lion. Elliott AVillden, of Beaver, Utah, has been 
very active as vice president of the permanent committee and head of 
the Utah delegation, lie attended the Denver convention last fall, 
and with Charles T. Storey, of the same place, also a member of the 
committee, attended the Dallas, Texas, meeting October 17th last, and, 
with the entire committee, made a tour of the state. Without other 
assistance than his own means, he has expended time and money in 
aid of the enterprise. The Legislature of Utah, which meets next 
January, will, without doubt, appropriate some money to keep up that 
territory's share of the expense of agitation. Utah, by proposed rail- 
road routes, will be brought almost as near to the Gulf as Colorado- 
is. The important cities of Utah are Salt Lake (the capital), Ogden 
and Provo. 

DELEGATE CAINE ON IRRIGATION. 

The following letter by Delegate Caine, of Utah, on the subject 
of irrigation appears in Col. liichard J. Hinton's report, referred to 
heretofore, and by Col. Hinton regarded as good and reliable; there- 
fore we insert it almost entire, and it will answer as a standard of the 
entire so-called arid region: 

"Whatever conditions future developments may bring about, the 
present water supply in Utah Territory is surface; it depends entirely 
upon the fall of snow in the winter, and, to a slight degree, upon the 
rainfall during the fall and spring months. As a natural consequence, 
the character of the water supply is found in mountain streams. The 
fall of snow in the mountains is incomparably greater than in the val- 
leys, and it lasts much longer, for the reason that the cold is much 
severer. 

"The snow packs in the ravines until it is almost as liard and 
solid as stones; the solidifying is materially assisted by what are 
termed "January thaw^s," tlie result of a marked relaxation in the 
severity of the weather, which generally occurs during the month of 
January. This temporary relaxation is invariably followed by a 
renewal of the rigor of winter, when the snow, that has settled and 
become packed by the thaw, freezes, until it is almost a solid mass of 
ice. This snow is the source of all streams in Utah save the little 
running w^ater that comes through rains. 

"The volume of these streams depends entirely upon the season 
of the year. During the winter months the supply is very small, for 
the reason that the quantity of snow is at its minimum, and the cold 
has a tendency to stay the flow. With the disappearance of winter 
and the increased warmth o£ the sun, the snow begins to melt; the 
volume of water increases and continues to grow until tiny and puny 



132 The Great West. 

streams are swollen into torrents, sometimes causing great damage 
from the overflowing of their banks. The water supply attains its 
maximum height between the 10th and 2()th of the month of June. 
This statement may be given the force that attaches to a rule ahnost, 
if not entirely, without exception. The solidifying and freezing of 
the snow in winter, as above stated, makes certain the tenure of the 
water supply that would otherwise be both uncertain and disastrous; 
it prevents the too rapid melting which would result in absolutely 
uncontrollable torrents for a period, and thus makes the streams avail- 
able for agricultural purposes. 

"The experience of Utah farmers as to the best methods for 
increasing and preserving the water supply would be valuable only to 
people surrounded by a similar country with like elemental conditions 
existing. The only means of increasing the water supply is, so far as 
existing knowledge throws any light upon the subject, confined to the 
introduction of genuine artesian wells. Experiments sutKciently 
thorough to clearly demonstrate the success that would attend the dig- 
ging or boring of such wells in Utah have not ])een made. The best 
opinions, however, are that the geological conditions existing in Utah 
are peculiai'ly favorable to their introduction and successful develop- 
ment. 

"The territory, or rather its habitable portion, is composed of 
valleys, mountains and canons, with some lakes. The melting snow 
on mountain and in valley, which fails to find its way into some of the 
streams, must sink and collect somewhere, and there is a well-founded 
belief, which could easily be verified, that beneath these valleys are 
subterranean lakes that would feed, with a never-failing supply of water, 
innumerable artesian wells. To increase the supply by other means 
would be to increase the fall of snow, a thing humanity is not yet pre- 
pared to base a calculation upon. Preserving methods are, however, 
more practicable, and nature has done her best to make that task as 
light as possible. The outlet for all streams is into the valleys. The 
streams come from the canons high above the valleys, and the supply 
can be pi-eserved or saved by the construction of reservoirs or dams. 
In case the latter method was adopted, it would simply be necessary to 
select the most suitalde place in season, and place a dam across the 
ravine. 

"The work M'ould be more or less expensive, as the stream M'as 
large or small, and the cation wide or narrow, but in every canon 
suitable points abound, and as the future development and continued 
prosperity of Utah largely depend upon her permanent and increased 
water supply, her people will be forced to resort to damming the 
streams within their natural confines in the ravines. This idea 
carried out, would save the water that yearly runs to waste, die 
word 'v/aste' being used here with the knowledge that c^ery drop 
of warer is invaluable in a country where agriculture depends upon 



The Great West. 133 

irrigation, it is absolutely impossible to form even an estimate, and for 
several reasons; first, the volume of the stream differs every day in the 
year, and one year from another ; second, it would require a nieasure- 
ment of the streams and a knowledge of the amount consumed in irri- 
gation, which would increase with increased distributing canals and 
ditches. It may be safe to state, however, that if complete and 
thorough methods of saving were introduced, all the land in the terri- 
tory, if it could be reached, could be well and thoroughly irrigated; 
this, too, without resorting to artesian wells, so vast is the amount of 
water that runs to waste during the winter, spring, and early summer 
months. 

"As heretofore stated, the increase and decrease in the water supply 
depends entirely upon the fall of snow in winter, and, to an important 
degree, upon the fall of rain in the fall, spring, and early summer 
months. A very noteworthy fact, attested on the best authority, is 
that for a period of years there has been a steady increase in the water 
supply. It has been thought by many that the claims of increased 
water has been more imaginary than real. The claim, however, has 
been verified by measurements made in Great Salt Lake, which is the 
reservoir for many of the largest mountain streams, including the 
Jordan, which is the outlet for Utah Lake, the Bear river, the Ogden, 
Weber, Logan and Blacksmith Fork, and innumerable smaller streams. 

"The lake has a shore line of 350 miles, and since 1856 the water 
has increased 14 feet in depth; and the Great Salt Lake, depending as 
it does entirely upon the inflowing mountain streams, and that amount 
of water which is not consumed by agricultural utilization, shows beyond 
question that there has been a marked increase in the water supply. 

"Tills rise in the body of the water of the lake has taken place, it 
must be remembered, during a period when there was a rapid increase 
in tlie demand for water for agricultural purposes. 

"The increase in the water supply in Utah since its settlement by 
Mormon pioneers, in 1847, has been not less than 75 per cent., and 
might be honestly put at 100 per cent. 

"Whatever changes may have taken place in the grasses in Utah, 
are artificial. The native mountain 'bunch grass' has become so 
well known for its remarkably nutritious character, that rather than 
change it, the desire of the people of Utah, or those growdng stock, 
would be to propagate it. 

"Where irrigation has been applied for a few years, there has been 
a perceptible decrease in" the amount of water necessary to properly 
irrigate the land. The decrease is placed at about 25 per cent. The 
census returns give the most available information as to the extent of 
irrigable lands. 

"The value of such land depends entirely upon its location, not 
only in a territory, but in a precinct or county, and upon the charac- 
ter of the soil, which often differs materially from land adjoining it, 



i:U The Great West 

and enjoying the same water advantages. In earlier days all persons 
interested in the digging of a canal would turn out and keep on work- 
ing, under the direction of a person chosen by themselves. Later laws 
were passed on the subject, and will be found by reference to the 
statutes of the territory, which will give the fullest attainable infor- 
mation as to water riglits and conditions in the territory. 

"Grants, of course, are given to municipal and canal corporations, 
counties and districts, but these also are set forth in the statutes. 

"•The most important undertaking of the class under considera- 
tion yet accomplislied in the territory was the construction of a canal 
to *^upply Salt Lake City with water. The city was bonded for tlie pur- 
pose, and the canal was commenced in December of 1879 and linished 
in the fall of 1881. 

'•Its length is something over twenty miles, and its source is the 
Jordan River, a short distance below the point M'liere Utah Lake has 
its outlet into the Jordan. The canal is twenty feet wide at the bot- 
tom, the depth being six feet, sufficient to carry four feet of water. 

"The city was authorized to borrow $250,000 on its bonds for the 
construction of the canal. Tlie expenditures in detail were: For ex- 
cavation, $130,882.77; for dams, Humes, bridges and culverts, $30,- 
03f).17; for lumber for flumes in the city, the distance being one and 
one-quarter miles of redwood flumes, 124,844.56 ; for right-of-way, 
$30,253.97; for recording deeds, etc., $0,757. 05. In cities the muni- 
cipal corporations control the water, water-masters being appointed 
to regulate the division of the same. 



The Great West. 135 



CHAPTEE XYI. 

NEW MEXICO -1540 TO 1BB9. 

THE territory of Kew Mexico was constructed in the year 1850 
from the southeast third of the first cession from Mexico, con- 
taining all of that area now embraced within the Territories of Arizona 
and New Mexico, which lies north of the Gila, and M'est of the Rio 
Grande rivers. In 1853 a second cession was made by Mexico to the 
United States, known as the Gadsden Purchase, which, in 1854, was 
annexed to the Territory of Xew Mexico, extending the southern boun- 
dary line of that territory to its present limit, some 50 to 100 miles 
farther south; at the same time the eastern limits were extended across 
the Rio Grande "i t iver ^ and took in that unauthorized territory known 
as the Texas cession of 1850. Seven years later, Colorado Territory 
was organized and took quite a large portion from New Mexico's north- 
east corner. 

In 1863, the Territory of Arizona was organized, and reduced the 
territory still further, leaving it, however, with its magnificent dimen- 
sions, with an area of 122,580 square miles. The only rivers of note 
to which New Mexico is entitled are the Pio Grande, wdiich rises in 
Colorado, floM'S south through the territory, dividing it nearly ecjually 
into east and west divisions. This river is not navigable within the 
territory, is valuable for stock and agricultural purposes mainly; and the 
Pecos river, a branch of the Rio Grande, which rises a little north of 
the center of the territory, flows southeast into Texas, and finally to a 
junction with the Rio Grande about latitude 30 N., and logitude 25 
W. A branch of the Colorado rises in the extreme northwest corner, 
and the Gila has its source in the southwestern part of the territory. 
Much of the territory is well adapted to agriculture, by means of irri- 
gation, which system has been in vogue since the first discovery of the 
territory and settlement in 1540 and 1582, and had been practiced by 
the aborigines for all time as far as we are able to learn from the 
Pueblo Indians who M^ere found there, and Mdiose decendants are yet 
to be found within the confines of New Mexico. 

"About the time that De Soto was coasting along Florida, looking 
for the mouth of the Mississippi River, Don Antonio de Mendoza, 
Viceroy in Mexico under the King of Spain, fired M'ith a desire to 
gain favor Avith his sovereign, and add territory to the crown, conceived 
the idea of fitting out an expedition to push nortliM'ard and explore, 
hoping thereby to discover rich gold fields which were reputed in that 



136 The Gkeat West. 

direction, the reports liavin^ Leeii l)roiight in by two or three survivors oi 
Xarvaez' expedition into Floi'ida in the year 1528, who, in a wonder- 
ful manner, had made their way ovei-land, from Florida to Mexico, 
having traversed ahnost tlie width of the continent, and wandered 
through a portion of this coveted tei'ritory to the north. Chief of these 

f^l survivors w^as one Alvayl Nuiiez, who liad been treasurer to the expe- 
/ dition. In relating their experiences, lie told the A^iceroy, Mendoza. 

that great riches must abound in the mountains to the north, as the 
natives were a very rich people, living in large cities, and having an 
al)undance of gold and silver. This information was corroborated by 
Indians that Mendoza had captured and made slaves of. 

Kotwithstanding Mendoza's desire to obtain this rich country for 
his sovereign, he hesitated attempting a conquest of such a rich and no 
doubt powerful people, his armed force being too small to cope with 
the foe he expected to meet; he, therefore, wisely concluded to send 

, ;^ out a scouting or exploring party in the simplest possible garb, accom- 

panied l)y a nian of peace. The Viceroy took a poor bare-footed friar 
from his cell, byname, Marco de Niza, of the Franciscan Order of 
fLj Priests; gave liim,Alvj^Xunez as a guide, and with a few natives, sent 
' him out to explore the great unknown region beyond the northern 
mountains. 

After reaching the most northerly point explored by the Spaniards, 
Culiacan, the wise friar, sent ahead the captive Indians, with messages 
of peace and goodwill to the distrustful natives. These promises of 
peace were received in good faith by a great many of the natives, M'ho 
came down from their mountain hiding places to meet the good friar, 
who, M'ith kind words and small presents and with promises to not 
capture and enslave them, as the Spaniards had done before them, 
he succeeded in gaining their favor, and, in return, they told the 
Spaniards to come and go as they chose. These natives returned to 
their homes and spread the news of the treaty of peace among their 
brethren. The friar and his small party then continued their journey 
northward and, it is believed, reached the Cibola (the name applied to 
the unknown region), or Zu7ii (as known to-day). The friar brought 
back information Avliich to-day reads like a fairy story, and we 
omit it. 

The next attempt to explore this territory was not until 1581, at 
which time the Church took the responsibility of fitting out an expe- 
dition to explore the country and convert the natives, believing con- 
version to be the most successful method of conquering the country 
and solving the secrets of this mysterious land. Two Franciscan 
friars were consequently stai-ted out from the Spanish settlement of 
New Biscay; they proceeded northward by the Ilio (irande valley. For 
more than a year nothing was heard of them, and a rescuing party 
was dispatched; traces were found of the two pious men, but they 
failed to find them. This party, however, accomplished that which 



The Geeat West,, 187 

tlie two friars liad started out to do, viz.: made apsuceessful explora- 
tion of the country. They followed the course tdcen by the Francis- 
can monks along the valley of the Rio Grande l^ver. As they pro- 
gressed northward they encountered populous towns on every hand, 
which improved as they proceeded, until they found themselves in the 
midst of a land of thrift and plenty, where the art of spinning, weav- 
ing and dyeing was practiced by the natives in a very skillful manner 
with the very crudest of machinery. The topography of the country 
i-eseml)led Old Mexico so much, that these explorers gave it the name 
of New Mexico, and, therefore, the history of New Mexico really 
dates from 1582-3, although its discovery dates back to 1540-1. 

Acoma* was probably the gre atest tow n visited during this expe- 
dition (Old Fort Wingate is situated forty miles north of Acoma). 
The town was built upon the flat top of a high cliff, accessil>le only by 
means of steps hewn out of the solid rock, forming an impreguable 
fortress. Large cisterns were hewn out of the solid rock to store 
their water supply. They grew corn quite extensively, their fields 
being at some distance from the town, owing to the barrenness imme- 
diately surrounding their home on the cliff, and also that the ground 
might be irrigated by a neighboring stream. The Pueblos, there- 
fore, were among America's first farmers to use the system of irriga- 
tion to supply the want of water, this section being dry and almost 
barren from lack of natural precipitation. The expedition turned 
westward from the valley of the Ilio Grande and entered the land of 
Zuni. No particular discoveries w-ere made, except here and there 
they found Spanish crosses erected by one of the former exploring 
parties, and they were told by the natives of a great lake, situated at 
a great distance, where a people dwelt wdio were very rich and wore 
bracelets and earrings of gold. The little l)and divided, some desiring 
to continue explorations with a view to finding this great lake, a small 
number desiring to return to New Biscay and report tlieir discoveries, 
which they did. The leader, with a few men, continued his way for- 
ward, everywhere receiving good treatment from the natives, they 
regarding him and his followers as superior beings, caressing and 
feasting them while tliey remained in the country. 

Without finding the great lake or the strange people wdio resided 
thereabouts, they returned to Old Mexico by the valley of the Pecos 
River, which they named ''River of Oxen," because of the great 
herds of bison they encountered feeding along the valley. The reports 
by these returned explorers incited the people of Mexico to fit out an 
armed expedition with a view to conquering the Pueblos. The expe- 
dition was placed in charge of Juan de Onate, wdio invaded New 

* Space does not permit an extensive description of Acoma. We refer you to 
" Three Years in Arizona and New Mexico," by S. W. Cozzens, for a full description 
of the Pueblo race of people, and assure you it will prove both interesting and 
valuable. — Dana. 



138 The Great West. 

Mexico in about the year 1585 (no official data obtainable. Tlie San 
Miguel mission was erected in 1587 at Santa Fe, and gives sutiicient 
basis to warrant us in assuming 1585 as the correct date). Onate went 
armed with the viceroy's commission as governor of tlie territory to 
be conquered. Accompanying this expedition was a number of Fran- 
ciscan friars, bent upon converting the Indians as fast as conquered, to 
accomplish which they erected missions in the towns as fast as sul)- 
dued. 

Onate proceeded rapidly up the Eio Grande, conquering as he 
M'ent, until finally he reached the point where Santa Fe now is and 
there began to erect his capital. The seat of government was firmly 
established at Santa Fe, and Onate and his successors ruled the 
native population with a severe hand. Inside of fifty years the 
Catholic clergy had succeeded in establishing fifty missions, and 
Spanish rule had reached its greatest prosperity. For forty years 
more, little, if any, progress was made; the Indians, especially the 
Ajiaches and ^N^avajoes, had become restless and for years had kept up 
an incessant warfare upon the Spaniards. 

In 1680 the native population arose eii laasfic^ determined to 
renniin slaves no longer, and, after a severe struggle, they succeeded 
in driving the invaders from the country with great slaughter. The 
remnant of the fugitives halted when they had fled as far down the 
Kio Grande as the present boundary line between Texas and Old Mex- 
ico, and thei-e founded a town, Mdiich continues to bear the name of 
El Paso del Korte (meaning "the gateway to the north.") It was 
nearly flfteen years before the Spaniards recovered from their repulse 
;/a . in Xew Mexico, and not until ubautJ4>95 did they attempt a second 

invasion of the coveted territory. It required nearly five years to 
restore the lost power over the Puel)los. This time their stay was 
permanent, and they renuiined masters of Kew Mexico, successfully 
weathering the successive revolutions in Old Mexico, up to the treaty 
with the United States in 1848, when Mexico ceded it away, and the 
United States became its possessor. Since that time considerable pro- 
gress has been made in New Mexico, and we now find her knocking 
iit the doors of Congress for admission to the [Tnion as a state, and we 
uidiesitatingly say she possesses most of the qualifications necessary 
to enter upon the duties of local self-government. 

Xew Mexico is traversed from north to south, near its center by 
the Rocky Mtiuntain Pange, with peaks occasionally reaching uj) to an 
elevation of 1-1,000 to 14,500 feet. Less important I'anges diversify 
the western portion, peaks sometimes reaching an elevation of 11,000 
feet. The northeast corner of the state is taken up by the.Ratoon 
mountains, which reach an elevation of 10,000 feet. The larger part 
of the east half is plains, used extensively for grazing the immense 
herds of cattle that are owned in that territory. 



The Great West. 



139 




140 The Gkeat "West. 

The climate is cold in the elevated portion?;, and mild and dry in 
the valleys and on the plains, but everywhere healtliy. Very little i-ain 
falls, and irrigation is resorted to, in some localities on avery large scale, 
and they are thereby enabled to rank well as an agricultural territory. 
Gold, silver, lead, copper and zinc are found in considerable abundance 
in various porticjiis or the territory. The largest mica mine in America 
is in Kew Mexico near the Colorado line, and is owned and worked by 
Denver capitalists. Coal is believed to be in abundance in the terri- 
tory, although no considerable find has yet been reported. , 

The principal cities in the territory are Santa Fe, tlie capital, and 
next to St. Augustine, Florida, it is the oldest city in the United States. 
It contains the oldest house and oldest churcli building iu the United 
States, botli being built or adobe, (a snn-dried brick), the former in 
1540, the latter in 1587; Taos, Albuqurque, and Las Vegas. 

In 1886 the territory produced from 48,(525 acres, 973,000 bushels 
of corn, vahied at llvSiaOO; from 80,506 acres, 921,000 bushels of 
wheat, valued at $(544,000; from 15,078 acres, 528,000 bushels of 
oats, valued at $253,440; from 3,303 acres, 63,000 bushels of barley, 
valued at $53,550; from 1,050 acres, 101,000 bnshelsof potatoes, valued 
at $111,100; from 27,300 acres, 24,570 tons of hay, valued at $356,- 
265; nudving the total value of Held crops amount to $2,100,155. Tlie 
territory contained, January 1st, 1888, fai-m animals as follows: 51,- 
836 head of horses and inides, valued at $2,059,272; 19,394: head of 
milch cows, valued at $460,608; 1,257,597 head of oxen and other 
cattle, valued at $18,911,121; 3.()23,168 head of sheep, valued at $3.- 
953,239; 19,941 head of hogs, valued at $112,466; a total of 4,971,- 
436 head of live stock, valued at $25,496,706, which, added to the 
average annual field product, makes a grand total of $27,596,861. 

New Mexico, next to Texas, will reap the benefits of the establish- 
ment of deep harbors on the Texas Gulf coast, owing to her proximity, 
and the necessity of almost the entire nortlnvest, to traverse her terri- 
tory to reach the Gulf. 

New Mexico is ably represented on the Inter-State Deep Harbor 
Committee, by sui-h re])resentative citizens as Hon. W. AV. GritHn, of 
Santa Fe; Hon. Frank C. Plume, of Taos, and Hon. jSunuiKaymond, 
of Las Cruces. 



The Great West. 141 



CHAPTER XYII. 

WASHINGTON TERRITORY— 1B45 TO 1QB3. 

WASHINGTON TERRITOEY was first permanently settled by 
Americans at Tumwater, in 1845, although explored by Lewis 
and Clarke as early as 1805, nnder the direction of the United States 
Government. Originally it was a portion of Oregon Territory, and 
wlien it was erected into a separate territory in 1S53, it comprised all 
of its present dimensions, and included a portion of what is now Idaho 
and Montana Territories. When Oregon was admitted into the Union 
as a state in 1859, the remainder of Idaho and nearly all of Wyoming, 
being detached from Oregon, was added to Washington Territory. In 
18(53 and 18(34 Idaho and Montana Territories were organized with 
their present dimensions, and what is now Wyoming was annexed to 
Dakota Territory, which was organized in 1861. Washington was then 
left with its present magniiicent dimensions, comprising 60,180 square 
miles, divided by the Columbia River, and Cascade mountains, into 
three grand divisions— Eastern, Central, and Western Washington. 
The Eastern is mainly agricultural, the Central agricultural and stock 
l-aisino-, some precious metal mining in the Cascade mountains, likewise 
anthracite and bituminous coal is found in the Central di\'ision. The 
Western division is mainly made up of valuable forests, with a small 
per cent, of agriculture. 

The territory is well supplied with bays and sounds, affording 
most excellent shipping facilities. The Columbia river, which forms 
a portion of the southern boundary, supplies ocean-ship navigation 
almost up to the Cascade mountains. Puget Sound extends south into 
the heart of the Western division, and abounds in excellent liarbors. 
Olympia, the capital, is situated on the extreme southern point of this 
indentation, while the excellent shipping points, Tacoma and Seattle, 
are situated farther north, on the same branch of Puget Sound. 

The diversity of natural resources of Washington have attracted a 
large immigration to the territory, which has had the effect to force 
the National Government to recognize the territory's demands for 
statehood, and an Enabling Act was passed at the last session of Con- 
gress, providing for the admission of the State of Washington. 

Washington is entitled to the second place in agricultural possi- 
bilities of all the territories, Dakota only being superior. 

In 1887, Washington produced from 3,375 acres, 88,000 bushels 
of corn, valued at $66,000; from 445,490 acres, 7,560,000 bushels of 



142 The Great West. 

Avheat, valued at $5,005,200; from 1,412 acres, 21,000 hnshels of rve. 
valued at ^13.(350; from 88,393 acres, 3,120,000 bushels of oatsj 
valued at $1,406,700; from 29,055 acres, 872,000 bushels of barley, 
valued at |601,680; from 10,943 acres, 1,258,000 bushels of potatoes, 
valued at $679,320; from 163.894 acres, 194.7()3 tons of hay, valued 
at $1,460,723; total value of crops for 1887, $9,293,273. 

January 1st, 1888, "Washington contained 97,365 head of horses 
and mules, valued at $6,055,226; 65,523 head of milch cows, valued 
at $2,181,916; 300,676 head of oxen and other cattle, valued at 
$7,060,177; 549,885 head of sheep, valued at $1,068,976; 91,054 
head of hogs, valued at $455,997 — total, 1,104,503 head of live stock, 
worth $16,822,332, which, added to the crop product of the year pre- 
vious, makes a grand total value of farm products on hand January 1st, 
1888, of $26,115,605. 

Fruit is being growm quite extensively in the territory, and is 
destined to prove a very valuable feature in the agricultural produc- 
tions of the coming state. 

Washington is well provided with railroads, in addition to the 
extensive navigation facilities, and contains many growing and pros- 
pectively large cities. 

The climate of Washington varies from mild and damp near the 
coast to moderate in the valleys and extremely cold in the mountains. 

THE CLIMATE OF AVASHINGTON TERRITORY AS TAKEN FROM SIGNAL SER- 
VICE REPORTS. 

"Last July the Senate passed resolutions directing the transmis- 
sion of reports prepared under the direction of the chief signal officer 
upon the climate and climatic conditions of Oregon and AVashington 
Territory. These reports, together with illustrative charts and a let- 
ter from General Greeley, have just been published, and, in view of 
the emigration to the far Northwest, will be found to be of general in- 
terest. The rainfall on the Pacific Coast is the heaviest in the United 
States, ranging from 70 to 170 inches annually, but this enormous fall 
covers only per cent, of the area of Oregon and Washington Terri- 
tory. On the other hand, the area where less than 10 inches fall is 
less than 5 per cent, of the whole. Wheat can be grown in nine- 
tenths of these two etates without irrigation. Owing to equable rain- 
fall, agricultural operations are more fruitful with the small rainfall 
than in some sections of other states with a considerable larger pre- 
cipitation. Remarkably equable temperature conditions also obtain, 
the entire range of mean annual temperature over this territory being 
but8i degrees — from 45^ at Fort Colville, in Northeastern Washing- 
ton Territory, to C4 degrees at Ashland, Oregon. In 300 miles of lati- 
tude along the coast the range of temperature in the summer time is 
only 3i degrees — from 56) at Port Angeles, Washington, to 59^ at 
Fort Stevens, Oregon. During the winter months the mean tempe- 



The Great "West. 143 

ratttl''6 of more tlian half of these states is above tlie freezing point, 
and, on the coast, ranges between 40 and 45 degrees. Gen. Greeley 
says: 

" ' To snmniarise, Oregon and Washington Territory are favored 
with a climate of Tinnsnal mildness and eqnability. While the imme- 
diate coast regions liave very heavy rainfalls, yet such rain occnrs 
during the winter months of December to February, and in all cases 
the wet season gives place gradiially to the dry season, during July 
and August. While the preponderating amount of rain falls during 
the winter, yet the spring, early summer and late fall are marked by 
moderate rains at not infrequent intervals. These climatic conditions 
favor, to a marked extent, the growth of most cereals, and other im- 
portant staples.' " — Minneapolis Trihioie, April 4, 1889. 

Washington is well provided with schools and churches, and 
society averages very well with eastern communities. 



144 The Great "West. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

DAKOTA— 1BB2 TO 1BB3. 

DAKOTA TERRITORY ^vas originally included within the Loui- 
siana Purchase, and conies within the limits of discovery which 
attaches to that portion of America claimed by La Salle for the French 
Crown in 1G82; however, Dakota was not actually explored until 
nearly 100 years later, when the Hudson Bay Fur Company traversed 
the eastern portion from north to south with their long trains of Red 
River carts, each cart hauled by a single ox hitched in shafts. The 
Red River cart was a two- wheeled concern, manufactured entirely from 
wood and raw hide. It was a very clumsy affair, high, l>road wheels, 
rongh frame, and a high rack to accommodate the load of dried furs, 
which were carted down as far as Diibuque, Iowa, to be forwarded from 
tlience by water to England. It is said that these trains were often 
made up of 5,000 carts in a string. One round trip a year was all 
that was expected of the train going south in tlie spring, laden with 
furs, througli Dakota, and returning in the fall laden with supplies, 
througli Minnesota. The latter was the shorter route, but impassable 
in the spring, owing to the low swampy character of much of the route 
through Minnesota, the route being through the bottom lauds of the 
Red River of the North. 

Not until the famous voyage of Lewis and Clarke up the Mis- 
souri River to its source, and from thence to the Pacific, in 1805, was 
Dakota explored with any view of settlement; nearly half a century 
then ehipsed before any settlements w^ere effected. 

Dakota was first a portion of Minnesota Territory, until 1854, 
when it was covered by the Territory of Nebraska up to 1801, then it 
was organized as a territory, with its present boundaries. In 1864 
the territory was enlarged by the addition of what is now Wyoming, 
the next change occurring in 1868, when the Territory of Wyoming 
waa organized, reducing Dakota to its origiiuil and present size, which 
ia magniticent in proportions, containing 141), 100 square miles. Com- 
plying with the expressed will of tlie people of Dakota, the last Con- 
gress enacted that Dakota should be admitted into tlie Union as two 
states — North Dakota, and South Dakota — -the dividing line, being the 
46tli parallel of latitude, M'liich division gives about an ecpial area to 
each. Dakota has increased in popuhition and wealth at a more rapid 
pace within the past ten years, than any other territory has in the entire 



The Great West« 145 

liistory of tlie United States. The population in 1880 was very little 
over 100,000, whereas to-day there are upwards of 600,000 inhabitants. 

The surface of Dakota is an elevated plateau; average altitude 
about 1,700 feet. There are no mountains in the state, the nearest 
approach to which are the famous Black Hills, in the extreme south- 
western corner of the territory. There are numerous streams through- 
out the territory, the largest, the Missouri River, which extends from 
the northwest corner to the southeast corner, being navigable 
throughout. The Red River of the North is the only other navigable 
stream ; it flows north from Lake Travis along the eastern border and 
empties into Lake Winnipeg, in Manitoba, and is navigable for 200 
miles in Dakota. 

The eastern portion of Dakota is famous for its many large 
lakes, the largest, Minne Wakan, or "Devil's Lake," covering nearly 
300,000 acres, and is very deep; it affords navigation to one large 
steamer, the Minnie H., and two smaller ones, the Arrow and the 
government steam launch. Considerable traffic in freight and pas- 
sengers is accommodated by these steamboats, aided by a large fleet of 
sail boats, which ply between the several important points on the lake 
during the summer season. Devil's Lake is becoming famous as a 
summer resort, the most frequent spot on the lake l)eing "Dana's 
Grove," founded l)y the author of this Avork. The other lakes worthy 
of mention are Stump Lake and Freshwater Lake, near Devil's Lake, 
Thompson, Long, Travis, Big Stone, Turtle, Wood, Tehanikanah and 
Pembina. 

The climate of Dakota might be termed very rigorous, the win- 
ters being severe and very long, the thermometer often registering 
from 40 to 50 degrees below zero. Not withstanding the low tempe- 
rature, the winters are not severe, owing to the dry atmosphere. 

The summers are delightful, the days being very long. Crops 
mature in a surprisingly short time. Dakota raises more wheat and 
oats than any other territory, and, including the entire United States, 
ranks sixth in wheat and twelfth in the production of oats. 

The seasons are too short for successful corn raising, except in 
the southern half, notwithstanding which fact, Dakota outranks in that 
cereal all of the territories and ranks twenty- second in the entire 
United States. 

Dakota produced in 1886, from 662,625 acres, 15,805,000 bush- 
els of corn, valued at |5,847,850; from 2,675,350 acres, 30,704,000 
bushels of Mdieat, valued at $15,966,080; from 5,145 acres, 67,000 
bushels of rye, valued at |28,140; from 825,600 acres, 20,651,000 
bushels of oats, valued at |(),195,300; from 56,000 acres, 1,232,000 
bushels of barley, valued at $468,160; from 46,800 acres, 3,042,000 
bushels of potatoes, valued at $1,764,360; from 275,000 acres, 385,- 
000 tons of hay, valued at $1,636,250 — total value of crops in 1886, 
$31,906,140. 



146 The Great AVest. 

Dakota contained, January 1st, 1888, 247,459 head of horses, - 
valued at $18,858,150; 12,323 head of mules, valued at 11,200,340; 
223,418 head of milch cows, valued at 14,841,408; 707,800 head of 
head of oxen and other cattle, valued at $10,087,171; 209,019 head of 
sheep, valued at $700,526; 533,970 head of hogs, valued at $3,173.- 
918— total, 2,053,989 head of live stock, worth 145,467,579, which, 
added to the agricultural product of the previous year, makes a grand 
total value of farm product January 1st, 1888, amounting to 
177,373,719. 

Dakota produces no coal worth mentioning, except an inferior 
quality that is found in unlimited quantities west of Bismark, on the 
line of the Northern Pacific Railway, and the same quality found in 
the Turtle mountains in the extreme northern portion of the territory. 
Timber gi-ows only on the banks of the streams, or on the margins of 
the lakes of the territory, and that not in merchantable quantities or 
quality, valuable mainly for domestic use. 

Gold and tin are found in lai'ge quantities in the Black Hills, 
which enables Dakota to rank about fourth as a gold prodncer. Bis- 
mark is the capital of this, and one of the several quite pretentious 
cities in Dakota, Fargo, Grand Forks, Devil's Lake and Jamestown 
being the other prominent centers of population of North Dakota; 
Piere. Mitchell, Huron, Sioux Falls, Aberdeen, Redtleld, Chaml)erlain, 
Watertowii and Yorkton are the principal cities in South Dakota. 

The States of North Dakota and South Dakota will be admitted 
into the Union, by the President's proclamation before January 1st, 
1890. 

Dakota is vitally interested in the subject of deep harbors on the 
Texas Gulf coast, owing to her large agricultural resources, and should 
join without delay the movement inaugurated for the purpose of 
urging the importance of the matter upon Congress, which was inau- 
gurated in Denver last fall at the Inter-State Deep Harbor Convention. 



The Great West. 147 



CIIAPTEE XIX. 

IDAHO TERRITORY— 1BD5 TO 1BB9. 

IDAHO was first explored in 1805 by LeM^s & Clarke, who M'ere sent 
ont by the United States Government to explore the Missouri 
River to its source, to cross over to the Pacific Ocean and complete 
the chain which ultimately bound the Pacific with the Atlantic 
states and completed the bond of union that has inade this nation the 
greatest on earth. 

The explorations of Messrs. Lewis and Clarke were a complete 
success and furnished the Government at Washington with the only 
valid title to this, until then, unexplored region. Idaho was at one 
time a portion of Oregon, theii of Washington, and only became a 
separate division in 1863, when territorial organization was provided 
by act of Congress. The territory then included a portion of the 
present territory of Wyoming, which was detached in 1869, leaving 
the territory with its present boundary lines, British America on the 
north. 

Idaho extends from 42 deg. to 49 deg. of latitude; has the Brit- 
ish Possessions on the north, Montana and Wyoming on the east,. 
Utah and Nevada on the south, and Oregon and Washington on the 
west. The length of the territory is 410 miles, and its width, from 
257 miles in the extreme south, to 60 miles at its northern limit. Its 
area is 55,228,160 acres; of this 18,400,000 acres are classed as 
mountainous, 15,000,000 acres agricultural lands, 7,000,000 acres 
forests, 25,000,000 acres grazing lands, and some 600,000 acres lakes. 
Its vast mineral belts are included in the mountain area, as are also 
most of its forests. 

Stretching along its eastern edge, and separating Idaho from 
Montana and Wyoming, are the rugged mountains of the Bitter Boot, 
Rocky and Wahsatch ranges, the Bitter Root occupying the northern, 
the Rocky the central, and the Wahsatch the southern links in this 
boundary. The '>spurs" of these ranges, especially of the Wahsatch, 
extend well over into Idaho, and they contain some of the territory's 
best mineral belts. Their highest peaks reach altitudes ranging from 
9,000 to 13,000 feet. On the south and southwest are the (3wyhee 
Mountains, which form an important link in the great divide between 
the waters of the Columbia and those of the Humboldt. The Saw- 
tooth, Salmon River, Wood River and Boise are among the prominent 
mountain ranees in Central Idaho. On the west are the Blue Moun- 



148 The Geeat West. 

tains of Oregon and "Washington. Idalio is, therefore, practically 
mountain- locked, although from the sonth, southeast; and M'est there 
are numerous depressions through -which railwjiy and M'ugon-roads liiid 
easy, natural access. 

The interior of the territory is a vast platean varying in altitude from 
000 feet above the sea in its lowest valleys, to 10,000 on the top of its 
highest peaks. The average elevation is from 2,000 to 3,000 feet less 
than that of Wyoming, Utah, Kevada or Colorado. Its nnmerous 
mountain ranges run in a variety of directions, the trend of the prin- 
ci])al ones, however, being southeast to northwest. In these interior 
ranges are the mineral belts which first attracted general attention to 
the territory. 

Alternating and nestling among the mountain ranges are many 
villaores, large and small, affordino; in the aggrecrate a vast area of agri- 
cultural lands not exceeded in fertility by any in the world. Through 
these meander a river system well worthy of the extended notice which 
IS given in succeeding pages. ' 

The arable portions of the valleys lie from 000 to 6,000 feet above 
the sea, and they range in size from 1 to 20 miles in width, and from 
20 to 100 miles in length. 

Traversincp Southern Idaho is the extensi\e volcanic belt on the 
basin of Snake River, This basin stretches far into neighboring terri- 
tories, being 800 miles in length. In Idaho it averages about 50 miles 
in width. Some of the best valleys traverse it, but it is more note- 
worthy as the great winter grazing region of this and adjacent terri- 
tories. Its nutritious herbs and grasses fatten thousands of cattle and 
sheep annually. 

There are no navigable streams in the tei-ritory, although many 
small streams are found which are capable of supplying all of the 
water necessary to irrigate every foot of the 15,000,()0() acres of agri- 
cultural lands, and falls of sufficient power to turn the wheels of manu- 
factories sufficient to supply the entire Great West. The climate com- 
pares favorably with Colorado, which was fully described in chapter 
XIII of this work. 

The mineral wealth of Idaho is very great; gold and silver are 
found in nearly all portions of the territory, and the total output of 
those precious metals to date is well up to $150,000,000, at present 
averaging about $0,000,000 per annum. Coal has been discovered in 
the territory, but as yet no commercial use has been made of the find. 

Idaho has an abundance of good milling timber, the area of which is 
reliably estimated at 7,000,000 acres, principally located throughout 
the central, eastern and northern portions of the territory, and generally 
convenient to M'ater power. 

Nearly one-third of this immense territory is suitable for agricul- 
ture, which, by means of irrigation, is made very desirable. Idaho 
produced, in 1886, from 1,950 acres, 42,000 bushels of corn, valued at 



The Gee at West, * 149 

$28,140; from 65,489 acres 1,089,000 bushels of wheat, valued at 
1748,080; from 1,106 acres, 15,000 bushels of rye. valued at $9,000 
from 34,770 acres, 1,078,000 bushels of oats, valued at $592,900 
from 12,576 acres, 283,000 bushels of barley, valued at $135,840 
from 4,095 acres, 43,000 bushels of potatoes, valued at $245,100; 
from 112,995 acres, 137,164 tons of hay, valued at $1,371,164; total 
valuation, $3,130,700. 

January 1st, 1888, Idaho contained 104,080 head of horses and 
mules, valued at $5,228,875; 26,458 head of milch cows, valued at 
$705,635; 424,316 head of oxen and other cattle, valued at $7,- 
955,925; 312,408 head of sheep, valued at 640,436; 42,150 head 
of hogs, valued at $252,900; making a total of 909,412 head of live 
stock, valued at $14,783,771, which, added to the value of crop pro- 
ducts, makes a grand total value of farm products January 1st, 1888, of 
$17,914,471. 

There are no considerable cities in Idaho, Boise City, the capital, 
is probably the most important ; Haley and Blackfoot are each prosper- 
ous and growing cities. 

Idaho has not yet joined the Inter-state movement for deep har- 
bors on the Gulf coast of Texas, but, as it can be demonstrated that 
she is interested with the Great West in the improvement of such 
harbor facilities, we do not despair of soon receiving moral and 
iinancial support from this territory, as Idaho will ultimately form no 
unimportant part of the proposed "Western Commercial Congress," 
described fully elsewhere in this issue. 



150 ' The Great Wesi 



CHAPTEK XX. 

ARIZONA— 1540 TO IGBS. 

AinZONA -vvas first explored by Coroiiada, a Spanish subject, in 
1840; he penetrated this wild and unknown region as far uortli 
as the Magollau Mountains aud, it is thought, entered Xew Mexico at 
the point where the Gila River crosses the boundary line, exploring 
as far as the source of that river. Evidences of Coronado's visit M-as 
found by Spanish explorers in 1583; Spanish crosses erected by him 
were encountered throughout Southern Arizona and Xew Mexico. 

Arizona is bounded on the north by Utah and Xevada, on the 
,east by Kew Mexico, west by California, and on the south by Old 
Mexico. 

This territory was originally attached to Mexico during the 
Spanish rule, and remained a portion of the same throughout the 
strife and turmoil of that government until it Mas ceded to the Ignited 
States in 18-48 and 1854. In 1850 it was included within the terri- 
tory of Xew Mexico, and was only detached in 1863, when Congress 
provided for the territorial government of Arizona. The territory 
was the home of the Aztec race, a no less interesting people than the 
Pueblos or Zunis of New Mexico. Several tribes of aborigines still 
inhabit the territory, mostly civilized and engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits. The Aztecs are extinct, however; evidences of that powerful 
people and their advanced state of semi-civilization are found upon 
every hand; w^ell preserved mummies are also found, which give to 
the present generation a fair idea of how that prehistoric race looked. 
The topography of Arizona is similar to that of New Mexico, slightly 
more elevated, but as susceptible of a high degree of cultivation l)y 
means of irrigation. 

The territory contains an area of 113.916 square miles, divided 
about equally between mountain and plateaii, the former reaching an 
altitude of 12,000 to 14,000 feet, the latter, in the northern portion of 
the territory, averaging about 7,000 feet elevation, gradually declining 
toward the south, until, on the southern border, it is scarcely 100 feet 
above sea level. The streams flow west and south, emptying into the 
Gidf of California. In their course they have cut their way through 
the mountain ranges, until often the bed of the stream is thousands of 
feet l)elow the liriidv of the canon. 

The Colorado lliver Hows through the northwestern part of Ari- 
zona, and forms a portion of the western boundary line, and in its 



The Great West. 151 

course has cut througli the solid rock until it has formed what is 
known as the Grand Canon of the Colorado, larger than which there 
are none in the world. This canon 400 miles in length, the perpen- 
dicular walls being from 1,500 to 4,000 feet high. This is the only- 
navigable stream in the territory, navigable for moderate sized steamers 
some 400 miles above its mouth. The Gila, the next largest river in 
Arizona, flows from east to west entirely across the territory, and 
empties into the Colorado River just before the latter empties into the 
Gulf of California. 

Arizona contains some good gold and silver mines, and is begin- 
ning to rank w^ell as a precious metal producer. The territory is 
sparsely settled, and the natural resources are practically undeveloped, 
in fact, much of the territory is yet unexplored or prospected. 

Agriculture has received very little attention from tlie white 
settlers, the little attempted being principally by the natives with 
rude implements and without system. 

In 1886, the territory contained but 75,790 acres of cultivated 
land, producing crops valued at $1,168, 356. In live stock it averages 
Avell up with many of the other ten-itories. 

January 1st, 1886, the territory contains 12,149 head of horses 
and mules, valued at $()38,587; 16,298 head of milch cows, valued at 
$606,286; 420,000 head of oxen and other cattle, valued at |7,560,- 
000; 658,561 head of sheep, valued at $1,152,482; 16,444 head of 
hogs, valued at $94,536; total 1.123,452 head of live stock, valued at 
$10,051,891, which added to the value of the crop product, equals 
$11,220,247, total value of farm product January, 1888. 

Arizona Joins in the movement for deep harbors on the Texas 
Gulf coast, was represented in the late Inter-State Deep Harbor Con- 
vention held at Denver by Hon. C. W. Lechner, and Hon. A. Leonard, 
.of Phoenix, and Lewis Wolfley, (now Governor of Arizona), Tucson. 



152 The Great "West. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

M0NTANA-1BD5 TO 1BB3. 

MONTANA TERRITORY was first explored in 1805, by Lewis 
and Clarke, under the direction of Thomas Jefferson, then Pres- 
iden; of the United States. Until 185-i it was included in that vast 
region of the United States known as the nnorgauized or Northwest 
Territory. In 1854 territorial rule was provided for, and Montana 
was then a portion of the territory of Nebraska, continuing thus 
until 1864, when Congress established the territory of Montana, Nvith 
the present area, and supplied a government similar to the present 
form. 

At the last session of Congress provision was made for Montana 
to become a state, and active preparations are now in progress to con- 
form to the new order of things. The area of this magnificent terri- 
tory is 140,048 square miles, or 93,491,200 acres. It is bounded on 
the north by British America, west by Idaho, south by Wyoming, 
and east by Dakota. The surface is generally mountainous; the Bit- 
ter Root and Rocky Mountains are in the west, the Little Rockies, 
Little Bear, etc., in the east, the High wood in the North, and the 
Spoonbill range in the southern portion of the territory. Less than 
one-fifth of tlie territory is adapted to agriculture, two-fifths for stock 
raising, and the balance is valuable for the precious metals there 
found. 

Montana ranks hrst in the Union as a precious metal producer. 
The value of the annual output now approaches $40,000,000. A poor 
quality of coal is found in portions of the territory, sufficient for local 
consumption, but not valual)le as a shipping commodity, owing to its 
slacking soon after it is exposed to the air. Most of the mountains 
are covered with a dense growth of pine trees, valuable for lumber 
and fuel. The territory is well eupplied with rivers, the Missouri and 
Yellowstone Rivers furnishing navigation within the limits of Mon- 
tana of over 800 miles each during most of the year, and. nearer their 
source, supplyiug an unlimited water power, which will ultimately be 
utilized for manufacturing purposes, etc. There are several other 
smaller rivers carrying a large volume or water, but whose descent 
precludes any idea of navigation. The waters from all these streams 
can be diverted fi-om their natural course and used for irrigation pur- 
poses. It is believed that before many years ]\[ontana will be culti- 
vating her millions of acres of agricultural lands, and. by means of 



The Geeat West, 153 

irrigation, bring the culture of field crops up to the highest state of 
perfection. Wheat, oats and otlier small grains are naturally adapted 
to the soil and climate of this territory, which stands next to Colorado 
in the yield per acre of these cereals, Colorado being first in the 
United States. 

In 1886, Montana produced from 890 acres, 22,0 00 bushels of 
corn, valued at |14,300; from 88,896 acres, 1,509,000 bushels of 
M'heat, valued at $1,131,750; from 56,774 acres, 1,987,000 bushels 
of oats, valued at $1,095,850; from 3,144: acres, 72,000 bushels of 
barley, valued at $32,120; from 4,253 acres, 451,000 bushels of 
potatoes, valued at $405,900; from 139,650 acres, 152,048 tons of 
hay, valued at $1,596,504; total value of field products $4,274,424. 

January 1st, 1888, the territory contained 192,881 head of 
horses and mules, valued at $9,899,631; 81,132 head of milch coavs 
valued at $884,149; 934,500 head of oxen and other cattle, valued 
at $17,948,007; 1,265,000 head of sheep, valued at $2,658,398; 
22,289 head of hogs, valued at $150,898; a total of 2,445,802 head 
of live stock, valued at $31,561,083, which, added to the crop value 
for year previous, makes a grand total value of farm products of Mon- 
tana, January 1st, 1888, of $35,835,507. 

Montana's trafhc is now very largely with the south, east and 
central portions of the Great West, and should exhibit more interest 
in the grand improvements to commerce contemplated by the action 
of the great Denver convention, in August, 1888, and perpetuated 
through the means of a permanent committee appointed at that time 
known as the Inter-State Deep Harbor Committee. 



15-4 The Gkeat AYest. 



CIIAPTEE XXII. 

WYOMING-IBDB TO IBBE. 

WYOMING was lirst explored by Clarke, in 1806. It was npon the 
occasion of the return of the famous expedition under the charge 
of Lewis and Clarke, Lewis returning l)y tlie route pursued by the ex- 
plorers, when going west. The year previous,. Clarke, with a small 
party, recrossed the Rocky Mountains at a point consideraldy south, 
and encountered the source of the Yellowstone River in Wyoming. 
lie enil)arked on the waters of that stream and floated down to the 
juncture of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, and there joined 
Lewis on his home trip, they returning east via the Missouri River. 

"Wyoming Avas in the vast unorganized Northwest Territory until 
Nebraska Territory was organized in 1851, when it was included 
Avithin that political organization. Afterwards Wyoming was attached 
to AVashington, then a portion of Utah, Idaho and Dakota, and was 
only organized as a distinct territory in 1868, and then embraced its 
j)resent area, 97,883 square miles, l)Ounded by Montana on the north, 
Dakota and Xel)raska on the east, by Colorado and Utah on the south, 
and on the west by Utah and Idaho. 

The following from the Secretary of the Territory, S. D. Shan- 
non, is a brief synopsis of the territory's resources, etc. : 

"Wyoming is the youngest of the territories, excepting Alaska, 
having been organized under an act of Congress, passed July 25th, 
1868. It is 365 miles long by 274 miles wide, covering an area 
greater than all the New England States coml)ined. The general 
appearance of the country may l)e described as mountainous, with val- 
leys, bold l)luffs, foot hills and broad rolling plains. There are moun- 
tains covered with everlasting snows, deep canons and gorges and 
elevated plateaus or natural parks, like the great Yellowstone National 
Park. Of the entire area, 62,615,120 acres, more than 10,000.000 
are covered with timl)er, and 15,000,000 acres are capable of being 
successfully cultivated; but the greater part of Wyoming is adaptecl 
to grazing. The mean elevation is about 6,000 feet above the sea 
level, the extremes ranging from 3,400 feet to 14,000 feet. In most 
of the valleys, in order to ol)tain crops, it is necessary to irrigate the 
land. The soil is of various qualities, but usually a rich loam covers 
the valleys and plains. 

''Farming, however, is carried on oidy to a limited extent, the 
chief industry being stock raising. At the present time there arc 



The Great "West. ' 155 

nearly 2,000,000 cattle, 1,000,000 slieep and 100,000 horses and 
mnles, worth in round numbers ^50,000,000. There are 5,000 miles 
of irrigation ditches in AVyoming, by which 2,000,000 acres of land 
have been reclaimed from their desert cliaracter. The Ten-itorial 
Engineer estimates that fully 4,000,000 acres more can be made pro- 
ductive by the ordinary means of irrigation. If the aid of Congress 
or the state can be secured in the construction of great storage basins 
or reservoirs, the area of farming lands can be increased several times 
their capacity under present conditions. Coal in vast quantities is 
found in almost every county, varying from four to forty feet in thick- 
ness. Tliere are engaged in this industry alone 2,000 miners, the 
product of whose labor in 1888 amounted to 1,455,220 tons of coal, 
worth $4,305,720. One-third of this amount was paid in cash to the 
miners for taking out the coal. Wyoming contains mountains of 
iron, vast deposits of soda, gypsum, salt, sulphur, copper, lead, tin, 
mica and other minerals, also, marble, granite, sandstone, mineral 
paint, lire clay, kaolin, graphite, ciimabar and magnesium. Gold and 
silver are found in many places. Very extensive oil basins of petro- 
leum exist in Central and Northern Wyoming, and must soon prove 
of great value. With the exception of coal, hardly any of the min- 
eral wealth of Wyoming can be said to be developed. But the exten- 
sion of new railroads throughout Wyoming will surely liring great 
changes in these undeveloped regions and give a Wonderful impetus 
in increasing its wealth. 

"According to the census of 1880, Wyoming had a population of 
20,789; the present population is variously estimated between 75,000 
and 100,000." 

Mr. Shannon omits in tlie above any allusion to the petroleum 
possibilities of the territory, which industry promises to be Wyoming's 
most valuable resource. We therefore quote from the territorial 
geologist's reports (L. D. Ricketts, geologist), as follows: 

"Few have any conception of the broad-spread occurrence of oil 
springs and indications now made known by activ^e prospecting. It is 
found in numerous escapes in Uinta County near ITilliard and Fossill; 
in Fremont County, near Lander, in Button basin, and on the Stinking 
Water Eiver; in Carbon County, along the base of the Hattlesnake 
Mountains, on Salt Creek and the South Powder; in Johnson County, 
on the South Powder and No Wood Pi vers; in Crook County, at 
various points bordering the foot hills of the Black Hill Range and 
Bear Lodge Mountains. 

"The three wells sunk on the Popoagie, in Rattlesnake district, all 
struck oil. At this place there is a small oval valley surrounded by 
abrupt, often precipitous, hills, over which, at various points he found 
oil and gas escaping. A good flow of oil was encountered in each. 
These wells, which varied in depth from 350 to nearly 800 feet, were 
cased and supplied with valves to prevent the oil from escaping, but 



156 The Gee at West. 

owing to the great gas pressure a large leakage cannot be prevented — 
a pressure so great that, upon suddenly opening the valves the oil 
spurts up like some black watered geyser for 75 feet in the air. After 
the pipe thus clears itself, the steady flow of the oil is assumed which, 
it is variously estimated, will aggregate from 600 to 1,000 barrels per 
twenty-four hours. 

"In color this oil is black. "When fresh it contains a very large 
amount of absorbed gas. It will yield both illuminating and lubricat- 
ing oil of excellent quality when distilled, and a residue which will be 
used as fuel for steam making just as the residuum from the Colorado 
refineries is used under the boilers at the Leadville shaft. 

Precious metals have not been mined to any considerable extent 
as yet, the prospects, liowever, are exceptionally flattering, and at no 
distant day it is believed Wyoming will rank high in the production 
of gold and silver. 

The agricultural production of 1886 amounted to $1,284,895 from 
100,888 acres. January 1st, 1888, the territory contained 1,865,075 
head of live stock, valued at $29,420,909, according to the United 
States reports, the actualreturns to the territorial aud it ornearly douljles 
that amoiint, as is stated in Secretary Shannon's report herein quoted. 

Wyoming has evidenced considerable interest in the Inter-state 
movement for deep harbor facilities on the Gulf coast of Texas, and is 
excellently represented on the permanent committee, appointed at the 
Denver Convention, by Hon. Francis E. A\^arren, now Governor of 
AVyoming; Hon. Joseph M. Carey, delegate to Congress, and Hon. 
F. J. Stanton, all of Cheyenne. 



The Great WesTc 157 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

ALASKA-1741 TO IB BE. 

ALASKA was fin^t discovered in 1741 by Russians, and became an 
important trading and lishing point before the close of the last 
century. In 1778 Captain Cook, in search of a northwest passage, 
coasted along Alaska and established the fact, not known before, that 
Alaska was attached to the North American continent; he also 
reported having seen large nun'ibers of otters along the coast, which 
stimulated the Russians to establish fur-trading stations in that far- 
away land. One company, known as the Russian-American Compauy, 
secured a grant to Alaska from the Emperor Paul I. in 1799, for a 
period of twenty years, and two years later a settlement was perma- 
nently established at Sitka. The charter of the company was re- 
newed again and again, and only expired about live years before the 
United States (in 18(57) pnrchased the country from Russia for. the 
snm of 17,200,000, which, in the light of the present day, seems an 
insignificant sum for such a valnable and extensive country, although 
at that time the amount "was considered a vast sum, and the Govern- 
ment was censnred for the purchase. 

Alaska boasts of the highest mountains on the ISTorth American 
continent— Mount St. Elias, 19,400 feet; Mount Wrangle, 20,000 
feet. The territory contains an area of 581,000 square miles, layino- 
between the ISOtli west and 165th east meridian, being 4,500 iniles 
east and west, and between the 55th and 70th degrees of north lati- 
tude, being 1,000 miles north and south. 

The Aleutian Islands, about 150 in number, with se\-eral active 
volcanoes, form an insular continuation of the North American pen- 
insula of Alaska, in the shape of an arch or bridge, between the 
American continent and Asia, enclosing the Behring Sea, over which 
the United States claims control, and which is disputed by England. 
The subject will prol)ably so complicate our relations with England, 
as to require considerable diplomacy to steer clear of an open rupture. 
Should war result with England over the seizure of English ships in 
Behring Sea, for violations of the regulations established by the 
United States Government for the protection of the fisheries of 
Alaska; then will this Government proceed to annex the territory 
once claimed by the United States and now known as British Colum- 
bia, and owned by England since the treaty of 1846. By right, we 
should own that territory now; it w^ould then give us uninterrupted 



158 The Gee at "West. 

connection with Alaska and land comninnication to within twelve 
miles of Asia, enabling ns to accept Russia's proposition to meet ns 
there with a railroad, and thereby form a continuons rail route from 
]S'ew York to St. Petersburg and Paris, Governor William Gilpin, 
of Colorado, has for years advocated just such a rail connection, and 
we hope he will live to see the work completed. It only requires 
about 7,000 miles of road to be built to accomplish the Governor's 
proposition — 4,000 in America and 3,000 in Siberia. In the light of 
successful engineering in the Rocky Mountains, the task of reaching 
Behring Strait is entirely feasible; that railroad would open up the 
great territory of Alaska, which is in size equal to one-seventh of the 
entire United States. If war should not afford us the pretext to seize 
British Columbia, then should the United States endeavor to purchase 
the same from England, or, better still, create a sentiment in British 
Columbia favoraljle to annexation and have them make a request of 
Congress to permit their coming peaceably into the Union. 

Alaska is valuable for its immense forests, and salmon, cod, hali- 
but, and seal fisheries, and for precious metals; one mine alone, on 
Douglass Island, is turning out ^200,000 in gold per month; other 
valuable mines and placer ground are known to exist, but not as yet 
much prospected. Coal is said to be found in the territory; the last 
report of Gov. Swineford describes several marvelous veins, varying 
in thickness from 2 to 15 feet, and quality equal to the famous cannel 
coal. Some of the islands are said to abound in the finest quality of 
grass for grazing purposes. It is said some San Francisco parties have 
frequently shipped large herds of cattle up there, in the spring of tlie 
yeai-, to fatten on the native grasses, slaughtering in October for return 
shipment, any quantity of ice being obtainable for preserving the beef 
in transit. 

Regarding commerce, Gov. Swineford has to say: 
''Tlie commerce of Alaska is at present such only as grows out of 
and is intimately connected with, its fisheries, fur trade and mining 
interests. Its extent may be inferred from the following carefully 
estimated statement of the market value of the products of her several 
industries the present year: 

Fur trade 83,000,000 

Gold (bullion and dust) 2,000,000 

Fisheries 4,000,000 

Lumber and Ivory 100,000 

Total §9,100,000 

''The indications are that the output of gold will be trebled, if not 
quadrupled, the coming year, while there is every prospect thafa lai-ge 
amount of capital will be added to that already employed in the lish- 
ej'ies. The fur trade is at its nuixinium, and aside from the fur-seal 



The Great West. ] 59 

industry, may be expected to diminish in volume just in proportion to 
the development of the other natural resources of the territory. 

Alaska is the only novelty left for the tourist and sight-seer in all 
this great world ; every other place of interest has "been done" by the 
tourist. During the past two years, Alaska has received some atten- 
tion from pleasure seekers, and the Paciiic Coast Steamship Company 
has placed additional boats upon their Alaska route, and in various 
ways so improved the service that a trip from San Francisco or Port 
Townsend to Alaska is but a charming pleasure trip, with every luxury 
known to ocean or river navigation. 

The excursion fare is extremely low% say from San Francisco to 
Alaska and return, $130, which covers nearly a month's time, about 
4,000 miles of transportation, besides meals and sleeping accommoda- 
tions on board the steamer. From Portland and return, $110. From 
Tacoma and return, $100. From Port Townsend and return, $95. 
Excursion tickets are sold only during excursion months, viz: from 
May to September inclusive. 



160 The Great AYest. 



CHAPTER XXTY. 

OKLAHOMA, APRIL 2Z 1BB3. 

□ KLAIIOMA is tlie smallest and newest territory of tlie United 
States, is situated in the midst of tlie Indian Territory, and eon- 
tains less than 2,000,000 acres of area. For years a persistant effort 
has been made to open up for settlement this valnable tract of land, 
which Captain Payne and thousands of his followers believed was 
pnl)liG land without the formal act of Congress, aaid consequently at 
short intervals invaded the territory witli a view to settlement, and was 
each time ejected by the United States troops. For several years this 
invasion and ejection play (sometimes very serious play) was continued 
and had the effect of turning all eyes to that coveted spot, whose 
virtues had become magnitied into a veritable Eden; the consequence 
l)eing that, when Congress passed an act permitting the President to 
proclaim the country open for settlement, there was a grand rush of 
probal)ly 100,000 people to that territory. The President wisely, or 
unwisely, fixed a definite day upon which settlers might enter Okla- 
homa, the effect being to concentrate this immense concourse of people 
upon the frontier several days in advance of the date fixed. Upon that 
day, April 22nd, 1889 the whole number, (twice or thrice the number 
that could possibly get a quarter section of land), made a mad rush for 
the supposed Eden. In one day the entire area of public land was 
seized; towns were created, and large cities formed, Guthrie, the 
capital, sprang from nothing at noon of that day, to be a city of 15.000 
people before sunset of the same day. Such an event never before 
occurred in the history of the world. Probably the greatest lesson 
taught by this rapid absorption of public lands was, that the pul)lic 
domain is being so i-apidly settled upon, that "Uncle Sam is rich 
enough to give us all a farm," will die with the Kineteenth Century. 



APPENDIX. 



A SUMMING UP OF THE RESOURCES AND POSSIBILITIES 
OF THE GREAT WEST. 

In the interests of the Texas Deep Harbor movement, the following statistical 
"facts are appended, with careful comparisons and deductions. We have compiled 
the facts from the latest United States reports, aided by the report of the statistical 
committee appointed by the Port Worth Convention in July last, of which Hon 
John Hancock, of Austin, Texas, was chairman, and Hon. Henry A. Lewis, of Dallas, 
Texas, was secretary- Mr. Lewis performed his work with care and precision, and 
where we quote from his compilation we feel that we can recommend its accuracy 
equal with the United States reports from which we quote. We shall not tire our 
readers with a long list of figures, but confine ourselves to totals in groups, dividing 
the United States by the Mississippi Biver into East and West, and stake our rep- 
utation on their being exact as taken from the sources acknowledged 

The total area of all the States and Territories west of the Mississippi river, 
exclusive of Alaska Territory, amounts to 1,'840,595 square miles. Alaska cotains 
577,390 square miles, but being detatched and not calculated in our estimates to 
follow, w^e will not include it in the grand aggregate of area. 

East of the Mississippi river the total area is 1,187,859 square miles, or, the 
West is more than one and one-half times in area that of the East. 

West of the Mississippi river in the United States, it is estimated by competent 
authorities, there are fifteen million human beings — one-fourth of the population of 
the entire Union. The total appropriations of the United States Government for 
public buildings, rivers and harbors, roads and canals, light stations and beacons, 
forts, arsenals and armories, from 1789 to 1886 amounts to the vast sum of $426,- 
794,810, or $7.11 for each inhabitant, basing population of 1886 at 60,000,000. Of this 
enormous sum there was expended in the States east of the Mississippi river and 
including the improvements of that river and tributaries and the State of Louis- 
iana, $292,357,775, and the greater portion of unclassified or miscellaneous appro- 
priations, which amounts to $150,655,219, which would make at a fair estimate $390,- 
000,000 expended for public improvements east of the Mississippi river, or $8.66 per 
capita. 

In the States and Territories west of the river, exclusive of Pacific Coast States, 
$20,102,372, or $1.54 per capita, based on a populatian of 13,000,000. In the Pacific 
Coast States $16,825,491, or $8.41 per capita, based on a population of 2,000,000. It 
is hardly fair to include the Pacific Coast with the trans-Mississippi States in a 
comparison with the East, owing to the fact that nearly every dollar of the above 
Pacific Coast appropriations was expended in harbor improvements and defenses, 
which concern the East quite as much as the West. If, however, we include the 
Coast, we have a total appropriation of $36,927,863, or $2.46 per capita. We are 
entitled in proportion to population to have expended $90,000,000 more by the Gov- 
ernment in public improvements, without one cent more being expended in the 
East, to even us up with that section of the United States. We are at present too 
weak to enforce our demand for a just proportion of the Nation's favors, but the 
time is approaching when this vast Western Empire will cut no small figure in 
National affairs, and, at no distant day, the East will have her sins hurled back 
upon her by the balance of power wielded V.^ '"''«© West. We can almost see the 
Grand Old Man (who will be tp the West what Governor John Evans has been to 



II APPENDIX. 

Colorado), standing upon the summit of Pike's Peak (that grandest of all mountains), 
and defying the money bags and monopolists of the East, because he shall then 
have to support him the majority of the legal voters of the United States, and wealth 
extracted from the mountains or produced by the fertile plains and valleys, such 
as the East never dreamed of and the world never saw. 

We shall then have evened up on a Nation's favors. We shall have demanded 
and received appropriations from the National Government to build harbors; erect 
government buildings, store the surplus water for irrigating purposeSf etc.,. etc. 
We demand for The Great West 810,000,000 for deep harbors on the Texas-Gulf 
coast, as much more for the construction of immense reservoirs to store the w'aters 
of our mountain streams during the seasons that the torrents rush onward to the 
sea, unchecked and unappropriated, w'asted, and worse than wasted, for it swells 
the lower rivers until their banks are overflown, devastating the fields, destroying 
thousands of homes and drowning their occupants — the loss by one season's over- 
flow sufficing to erect reservoirs that would check in its incipiency and for all time 
the dreadful flood, and one season's crop from the land made fertile by these pro- 
posed irrigation storage reservoirs would exceed in value the cost of the reservoir 
construction, so that to the government we offer an investment that will yield 200 
per cent, per annum income. We propose further on to show an income from an 
investment by the Government in Texas deep harbor ports that will show even 
greater returns. 

In the past history of the Government many millions of dollars have been 
squandered through appropriations for public improvements — in fact it has been 
the rule rather than the exception — and our law makers have come to regard such 
appropriations as so much money wasted, and as a rule the men who are sent to 
Congress are not business men, and do not know an investment from a donation. 

We do not appeal to Congress for a donation. The Great West is not peopled 
by paupers. We ask and demand of this Government, of which we are no small 
portion, a just distribution of the Government's appropriations or investments. We 
want 890,000,000 more money invested in this "Western Empire before another dol- 
lar is invested in the East. That already wealthy section is to-day enjoying the 
returns from the millions of the Government money that justly belongs to the 
West. If the Shylocks of the East imagine this order of things can be tolerated 
forever, then will a fearful day of reckoning come to them. If the politicians of 
the East imagine that the West will forever tolerate being snubbed, slighted or 
cajoled, then will there come a day of reckoning for them such as they never 
dreamed of; and if the great transportation monopolies imagine that the West will 
forever submit to their extortion, then will they come to grief. 

Even now the light dawns upon us which proclaims the morning of the day of 
deliverance. 

The Denver, Texas and Fort Worth railway has saved the commerce of Denver 
from being entirely controlled by the whim or caprice of an Eastern railroad pres- 
ident. The D., T. & Ft. W. road opened up to Denver less than one year ago a 
short highway to the sea, which is being used by all of the Territories to the West 
and north of us to keep the east and west trunk lines from practicing extortion. 

Returning to the statistical, we take up the farm products of the United States 
and make comparisons. 

The year 188G being about an average year for crops, and official data by the 
United States not being obtainable later, we will confine our estimate of field cropj 
to that year. In 188G the United States produced 1,665,441,000 bushels of corn, and 
shipped out of counties where grown •288.640,0(X) bushels of that crop. Total exported, 
42,000,000 bushels. The States and Territories west of the Mississippi produced 
739,140,000 bushels, and shipped out of the counties where grown 170,7r)7,060 
bushels, nearly one-half of the corn product; and, nearly two-thirds of Ihe 



APPENDIX. ^" 

surplus, amounting to more than four times the total corn exported during that 
year from the United States. The actual amount crossing the Mississippi river 
from the west is not obtainable, but aggregates about four times the actual export 
from the United States of the corn product, and should be shipped out of the 
country via, the Gulf route without burdening the Eastern markets. 

The wheat product of the United States for 1886 amounted to 457,218,000 bush- 
els. The amount shipped out of the counties where grown was 263,170,110 bushels. 
Total exports, including flour, 160,600,000 bushels. The States and Territories west 
of the Mississippi river produced 222,584,000 bushels, about one-half of the etire 
product of the United States; and shipped out of counties where grown 133,626,521 
bushels, more than one-half of the surplus of counties of the United States, and 
almost equal to the total exports of the United States of that product for that 
year. 

The pork and beef supply of the United States comes mainly from the States 
west of the Mississippi river. Cotton, sugar-cane and tobacco are likewise princi- 
pally produced west of the river. January 1st, 1888, the States west of the Missis- 
sippi river had 22,614,795 head of oxen and other cattle, exclusive of milch cows, 
and the entire United States had but 34,378,363 head. The West therefore had 
nearly two-thirds of the cattle of the United States. The trans-Mississippi States 
had January 1st, 1888, 20,523,899 hogs; the entire United States had 44,346,525 head. 
Therefore the West had nearly one-half of the hogs of the United States. Com- 
missioner, now Secretary of Agriculture, Norman J. Colman, in his reports of 1887 
states that the average of exports of swme products per annum for twenty-seven 
years past has been 15 per cent, of the production, or about 4,500,000 hogs. The 
same authority gives the annual production at 30,000,000 head; the West is then 
entitled to a credit of producing about 15,000,000 hogs annually, or one per capita. 
The East produced about 15,000,000 head, or one-third per capita, a little short of 
the actual consumption, they requiring from the West about 5,000,000 head per 
annum. 

In proportion to population the West stands in production of corn, 50 bushels 
to each person, while the East stands 20 bushels lo each person, or in proportion to 
population the West is two and one-half times the East. Secretary Coleman esti- 
mates that in the United States the proportion of consumption of corn averages 25 
bushels per capita. The States east of the Mississippi therefore lack five bushels 
per capita of supplying local consumption. West of the Mississippi the States pro- 
duce 25 bushels per capita more than local consumption. Therefore, after supply- 
ing the local demands of the East with five bushels per capita, or 225,000,000 bush- 
els, the remainder of surplus amounts to more than four times the total export of 
the United States. 

In wheat the West produced 15 bushels per inhabitant, while the East pro- 
duced ubout Sfg bushels per inhabitant; or in proportion to population the West 
produced four times the East. Secretary Coleman estimates that the average con- 
sumption of wheat in the United States is 4-3 bushels per capita as follows: 

The estimates of production, as recorded in our reports, average 448,000,000 
bushels, in round numbers, for seven years since 1880, not including the present 
fear. The exportation averages nearly 136,000,000 bushels, and with estimates of 
seed and bread, the entire distribution averages over 447,000,000 bushels. The dif- 
'erence is less than the losses by fire and foundering en route to market. These 
figures may not be absolute proof of the accuracy of the estimates, because the 
consumption is estimated. But as no one has furnished evidence to disprove the 
accuracy of the rate of consumption of 4-3 bushels per capita, there is no peg in 
existence upon which to hang a doubt as to the verity of the estimates. As the 
range of annual production is more than 150,000,000 bushels, and that of exportation 
as large proportiona-Uv, the estimates made w. advance of consumption are entirely 



IV 



APPENDIX. 



independent of the ultimate facts of distribution, and are made entirely from the 
crop records of the year. 

As to the per capita rate of consumption, it is almost a bushel less than that of 
Great Britain; and it corresponds with all data of local distribution that has been 
found available, especially in New England and the Middle States, which obtain a 
large portion of their supply from the West. Those States consume five bushels, 
and the West quite as much, while some of the Southern States require but three 
or four. The average of 4-3 bushels was fixed ten years ago from an exhaustive 
study of the local facts of distribution, and will be changed only on proof of inac- 
curacy, or at least a strong presumption fortified by ample facts. It should be 
remembered that in addition to wheat, about three bushels per head of maize is 
used for human food, besides oatmeal, rye and buckwiisat, making the fullest bread 
ration of any nation in the world. 

If this rate is too high, then the estimates are too high ; if too low, they are 
equally understood. That they are not too high is a reasonable conclusion, from 
the fact that in 1879 the wheat estimate was two per cent, lower than the census 
enumeration, and in 18G9 it was six per cent, lower, and that all estimates of area 
and of comparative product tend naturally to be low rather than high, notwith- 
standing efforts made to prevent under-estimate. 

The following table presents the exports and home consumption in comparison 
with the estimates of production, the latter made months before it is possible to 
know the extent of the year's contribution to the supply of the European defi- 
ciency : 



Years. 


Production. 


For Food. 


For Seed. 


Exportation . 


Total distri. 
bution. 


1880 


Bushels. 

498,549,868 
883,280,090 
504,185,470 
421,086,160 
512,765,000 
357,112,000 
457,218.000 

8,134,196,588 


Bushels. 

242.086.655 

235,249,812 

255,.500,000 

259,500,000 

265,000,000 

271,000,000 

277,000,000 

1,805,336,467 


Bushels. 

56.,563,530 

55,215.573 

52,770,312 

54,68:i,389 

.55,266.239 

51,474,906 

51,528,6.58 


Bushels. 

1W),321,514 
121,892,389 
147,811,316 
111,-534,182 
132,570,366 
94,565,794 
153,804,970 


Bushels. 
4&4,971,699 


1881 

1882 

1883 


412,3.57,774 
4.56,081.628 
425,717.571 


1884 

1885 


452,836.606 
417,0*0.700 


1886 


482,333,628 






Total 


377,502,607 


948,500,532 


3,131,339,606 


Average 


447,742,370 


257,905,210 


53,928,944 


135,500,076 


447,334,229 



Thus in seven years since 1879 the average of annual estimates is 417,742,320 
bushels, and the distribution 447,334,229 bushels. This is marvelous closeness, es- 
pecially in view of the fluctuating export, ranging from 180,321,514 to 94,505,794 
tushels. Thus three-tenths of our wheat has been exported in the last seven 
years, and the proportion exported of the last crop (one-third) is only exceeded by 
the unprecedented volume and percentage of the crop of 1880, and only twice ex- 
ceeded in the history of our wheat exportation." 

The West, as will be seen by estimates of the highest authority of the Unite<? 
^States on agricultural products, produces 11 ^ij bushels per capita more than loca.. 
consumption, and the East 1 bushel less than local consumption ; therefore the 
West must supply the East with its deficit, 45,000,000, and actually supplies all of 
the export of the wheat product. There is a discrepancy of nearly 30,000,000 be- 
tween the actual amount of surplus left in the West, after supplying the deficit of 
the East, which may be accounted for by wheat shipped into the United States 
irom British America in bond and exported in flour. In our calculations we re- 
duce flour to bushels of wheat, and corn meal to bushels of corn. Of corn we 
have a grand surplus, not accounted for either in export or supplying tne Eastern 
■deficit, which, without doubt, feeds the West's surplus of cattle and hogs. 



APPENDIX. V 

Secretary Colman furnishes us no statistics of cattle consumption or export, 
and we therefore refrain from comparisons, except that the surplus of the West 
undoubtedly makes up a deficit in the East equal to nearly the annual production 
of the States east of the Mississippi and all of the export. 

In hog product the average local annual consumption is about one-third of one 
hog per capita. The East does not produce its quota ; therefore the West must 
supply the deficit, which it does, and its surplus also supplies the export demand. 

Cotton is raised entirely in the Southern States, the majority of which lie east 
of the Mississippi river. However, in the four cotton producing States west of the 
Mississippi river nearly one-half of the cotton produced annually in the United 
States is raised, 2,550,000 bales in 1887, out of a total of 6,439,000 bales, Texas alone 
producing 1,345,000 bales. The cotton raised east of the river is principally manu- 
factured in the United States, the cotton factories, with a single exception, being 
east of the river ; therefore, the amount produced west of the river is nearly all 
exported. The exports of cotton in 1887 amounted to 4,400,000 bales. 

The West supplies the raw material exported, and is justly entitled to direct 
transportation via the Gulf and is entitled to every harbor facility required. The 
following table of exports will give the reader a comprehensive view of the point 
we are making : 



Total Export. 



Corn, bushels 

or pounds 

Wheat, bushels 

or pounds 

Hogs, head 

or pounds 

Cotton, bales 

or pounds 

Total poundi 



•t2, 

2,352, 

15(5, 

9,418, 

4, 

900. 

4. 

2.200. 



000,000 
,000,000 
,971,949 
,316,940 
,500,000 
,000,000 
,400,000 
,000,000 



14,870,816,940 



West supplies the 

East for 
local consumption 



225,000,000 

12,500,000,000 

45,000,000 

2,700,000,000 

5,000,000 

1,000,000,000 

none 

none 



16,200,000,000 



West supplies 
for Export. 



42,000,000 

2,352,000,000 

125,000,000 

7,500,000,000 

4,500,000 

900,000,000 

2,000,000 

1,000,000,000 



11,752,000,000 



Thus it is seen that the West's surplus for export is within about 3,000,000,000 
pounds of the total exports of the United States for those products, the actual 
surplus of the West for export being 5,876,000 tons. 

Table op Comparative Distances to New York and to the Texas Gulp 

Coast — in Miles 



Little Rock, Arkansas 

St. Louis, Missouri 

San Francisco, California. 

Topeka, Kansas 

Des Moines, Iowa 

Lincoln, Nebraska 

Cheyenne, Wyoming 

Bismark, Dakota 

St. Paul, Minnesota 

Boise City, Idaho 

Santa Fe, New Mexico 

Denver, Colorado 

Salt Lake City, Utah 

Helena, Montana 

Oregon City, Oregon 

Carson City, Nevada 

Tacoma, Wasli. Ter 

Tnscon, Arizona 

Totals... 



30835 



To New York. 


To the Gulf. 


1080 miles. 


440 miles. 


885 


720 


2650 


1820 


1135 


680 


1000 


830 


1185 


820 


1600 


1020 


1335 


1240 


1200 


1120 


2160 


1400 


1735 


760 


1620 


920 


1960 


1200 


1920 


1495 


2440 


1885 


2380 


1485 


2550 


2000 


2000 


850 



20683 



VI APPENDIX. 

The difference in favor of the Gulf amounts to 10,150 miles from the centers 
of each of the eighteen States, except Missouri, which favors New York by a 
couple of hundred miles, or an average mileage in favor of the Gulf of 56i miles 
from each. By a careful study of the table any person must admit the fairness of 
the comparison. Then what does it mean ? It means that the West pays the rail- 
roads for conveying export freight to the seaboard on 5,876,000 tons over 564 
miles of road more than would be necessary if there w'ere deep harbor facilities on 
the Gulf coast of Texas. East of the river a very low rate charged, is one cent per 
ton per mile on the commodities mentioned, while west of the river it will average 
three cents per ton per mile ; a fair average, taken together, would be two cents 
per ton per mile, which means that the West pave 811.28 per ton more freight to the 
seaboard than by a Gulf route. Experience teaches that the charges from Galves- 
ton Texas, to Liverpool on cotton is but 3^ cent per hundred higher than from 
New York to Liverpool. For argument's sake we will assume that it costs twenty- 
eight cents per ton more, instead of ten cents per ton more, and it still leaves 
$11 per ton in favor of the proposed Gulf route, and which should be saved to the 
West, in dollars it amounts to 864,036,000 per annum that the Eastern monopolies 
are grinding out of the West, and, by such methods and usurous rates of interest 
for the use of their millions used in farm and city improvements, they have kept 
the West poor. 

As will be seen, we ask 810,000,000 for Texas harbors, the annual income of 
which amounts to 864,636,000, or nearly 650 per cent, upon the investment. Can 
the Government make a more magnificent investment '? We say not, and as v/e 
fifteen millions of people are as much and infinitely more to the Government than 
the handful of capitalists who control the ways of trans-continental transportation, 
we demand the appropriation or investment by the Government for our relief. 

The relief of the Eastern markets of our surplus production would equally 
benefit Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, the only States 
east of the Mississippi that actually produce a surplus to ship to Eastern markets. 
They should stand with us, and with us demand that the West shall be provided 
with such shipping facilities as shall stop the accustomed glutting of Eastern mar- 
kets. Let us add interior Mexico, which is fast opening up to the United States a 
market that promises to be quite as valuable as our trade with Europe. Compare 
distance to Galveston and New York from ten of the principal cities of Mexico : 



APPROXIMATE TABLE OP DISTANCES FROM 
NSW YORK CITY TO THE FOLLOWING 
POINTS. 

3Iiles. 

New York to Chihuahua 2000 

New York to Ures 2180 

NTew York to Culiacan 2240 

New York to Durango 2080 

New York to San Luis Potoso 2000 

New York to Cerro Gordo 2080 

New York to City of Mexico 1980 

New York to Vera Cruz 2260 

New York to Matamoras 1680 

New York to Colivea 2280 

20780 



APPROXIMATE TABLE OF DISTANCES FROM 
TEXAS GULF COAST TO THE FOLLOWING 
POINTS : 

Miles. 

Chihuahua to Galveston COO 

Ures, Mexico, to Galveston 840 

Culiacan, Mexico, to Galveston. . . . 805 

Durango, Mexico, to Galveston 640 

San Luis, Potosi, Mex., to Galveston 560 
Cerre Gordo, Mexico, to Galveston . . 580 
City of Mexico, Mex., to Galveston. 685 
Vera Cruz, Mexico, to Galveston . . . . 660 
Matamoras, Mexico, to Galveston . . . 240 
Colivea, Mexico, to Galveston 810 

6420 



Difference in favor of Galveston or Aransas Pass 14,360 miles, an average of 
1436 miles of rail haul saved by improving harbors at the points suggested, or 828.72 
per ton for every ton of freight now transported via New Y'ork from the Mexican 
cities mentioned above. We would not be surprised if the total saving to the pro- 



VII 
APPENDIX. 

ducer and consumer of this western country would amount to one hundred 
millions of dollars the first year of the proposed deep harbors. 

Anew West is forming, and despite the efforts of Wall Street is g-wmg nch 
• fl +-ai «nrl Tionulous The time is almost here when the West will hold the 

prote tea by natu^^^^^^^ -" ""' "' '"t" ""'frTl 

toatle modem Mvie. eooff at and .ately d.sarm trom distance too great for tort 
that the moaemn throughout for itB vast mountains, 

r^s henCoropsJailw^s etc.. and the people <or their vastly (to Easterns), 
enCd ideas. It is said one Western man can tell stories so large that .t requires 
a dozen Eastern men to believe. 

The average citizen of the West is so impressed and enthused by the vastness 
of everything Th^t when he really believes and feels all that ^^e says he 3S put 
down by the s ow-going and pent-upNew Englander as an enthusiast and his state- 
meXLe regarded as gross exagerations. We note, however, that the most 
Teptlcal Easterner when he comes West becomes more enthusiastic over the 
skeptical ^asterner ^he West than the old timers, and they in fact are 

^^ir:Z^:^^r.^es^. .^ae.. The West de..lops^^^^^^^ 
which is virtuous or vicious in proportion to the largeness of ^^^ ««^.^^^^' ^'^ 
^en are very good or very vicious, increased civilization is fast ehminating the bad 
Td IS eSnced in Denver, the tide is strongly in the opposite direction, and 
Slver rrputation is world-renowned for its schools and churches, in fact Denver 
^oTd almost claim to be the city of churches, having G6 in number capable of 
seating 40,000 persons, nearly the entire population over fifteen years of age. 

According to good authorities the West embraces 785,000 square miles of 
tillable land 645,000 of grazing lands, nearly one half of which under the pro- 
posed system of irrigation will be classed as tillable land ere many years it is safe, 
CefltoestimafethearablelandsintheUnitedState.^^^^ 
Hiver at a round 1,000,000 square miles, and grazing 430,000; timber .00,000, and 
^5 000 square miles of waste or useless lands except that which contams minera , 
S the latter it is safe to estimate one-fourth is valuable for its precious me als 
and as much more for coal and iron, and much of the mineral land has sufficien 
timber for local demands. The mineral area is far from being waste land, as it 
produces annually more in value than an equal area in agriculture. The arable 
a ea of the East is reduced by local causes to about 700,000 square miles, every 
acre of tillable land West is equal to one acre East, so that in agricultural 
possibUities we are nearly one and one-half times the East In grazmg lands we 
stand alone, there being none East of the river. In mineral lands - -ay ^e ^ d 
to possess the entire area of the United States as the minerals P^duced Eas ar^ 
insLiflcant in comparison, also in timber, exclusive of Alaska, «f . ^^K^h Wi 1 am 
Seward once said : " Alaska is destined to be the ship yard of America. That v. as 
because of the immense timber resources of that far off Territory of the United 
States Every State and Territory west of the Mississippi except Kansas and 
Nebraska, are more or less producers of all the precious metals and «°al. The> each 
produce an inferior quality of coal, but are known as strictly agricultural States. 
The annual out-put of the mineral producing region West of the f-issippi nve 
is estimated by competent authorities at ^W $1,000 OOO.OW, about on^^^^^ 
the value of the agricultural produce of the entire United States, and 



Tm APPENDIX, 

ij eatimated by competent authorities at about $1,000,000,000, about one half of 
the value of the agricultural produce of the entire United States, and 
much greater than the value of the West's present agricultural product. Dr. 
Strong in his publication entitled " Our Country," says : " Beyond a peradventure, 
the West is to dominate the East. With more than twice the room and resources 
of the East, the West will have probably twice the population and wealth of the 
East, together with the superior power and influence which, under popular 
government accompany them. The West will elect the executive and control 
legislation. When the center of population croses the Mississippi, the West will 
have a majority in the lower House, and sooner or later the partitions of her grrat 
territories, and probably somn of the States, will give to the West the control of the 
Senate. When Texas is as densely peopled as New England it is hardly to be sup- 
posed her millions will be content to see the 62,000 square miles east of the Hudson 
send twelve senators to the seat of government, while her territory of 262,000 sends 
only two. The West will direct the policy of the Government, and by virtue of, 
her preponderating population and influence will determine our national character 
and therefore, destiny. 

Since prehistoric times populations have moved steadily westward, as De 
Tocqueville said, "'as if driven by the mighty hand of God." And following their 
migrations, the course of empire, which Bishop Berkeley sang has westward taken 
his way. The world's scepter passed from Persia to G*reece, from Greece to Italy, 
from Italy to Great Britain the scepter is to-day departing. It is passing on to 
"Greater Britain." to our mighty West, there to remain, for there is no further 
West ; beyond is the orient. Like the star m the East which guided the three 
kings with their treasures westward, until at length it stood still over the cradle 
of the young Christ, so the star of empire, rising in the East, has ever beckoned 
the wealth and power of the nations westward, until to-day it stands still over the 
cradle of the young empire of the West, to which the nations are bringing their 
oiferings. 

The West is to-day an infant, but shall one day be a giant, in each of whose 
limbs shall unite the strength of many nations." 

The movement has been inaugerated that will lead to the formation of a 
Western Commercial Alliance or Congress that will concentrate the West and force 
Congress to do that for the West that the West asks for and is justly entitled to. 
The East will not much longer snub the West, and treat their modest requests 
with contempt. 

The movement referred to above is the organized efforts to secure govern- 
ment aid to construct deep harbors on the Gulf Coast, briefly the following is a 
history of the movement ; 

For years Texas had been struggling to procure suitable national appropriations 
to secure deep water ports on the coast of that great commonwealth. One person 
was more active than many of the pronounced deep water mon, viz., W. P. 
Caruthers, late of Corpus Christi, Texas, now of Denver, Colorado. The energetic 
young eaitor published the Corpus Christi Caller, and is still one of the editors. He 
advocated the measure in Texas untill he became disgusted with the dilatory 
methods of the so-called friends of deep water ports, and having made a visit to 
Denver about one year ago he became very favorably imprc "^^^dwith the " Chicago 
of the West," and settled here permanently. He made his plans and life-long 
ambitions regarding deep harbors known to the author of this work, and by the 
author's suggestion Mr. Caruthers presented the matter to the Colorado Real Estate 
Exchange, and after the second attempt succeeded in getting that body interested 
and after some delay it was determined to call an Inter-State Deep Harbor Con- 
vention at Denver. Fort Worth hearing of the contemplated action of Denver 
called a Convention at that place to meet July 10th, 1888, and requested the. 



APPENDIX. IX 

attendance of Colorado delegates, which invitation was accepted, and the follow 
Ing delegates from Colorado were in attendance . J T Cornforth, W. P. Carutherr, 
John C. Gallup, W. G. Sprague and F L. Dana, of Denver , General R. A. 
CameroD and W. E. Pabor, of Cannon City , Judscn Bent, of Colorado Springs. 
General R. A. Cameron, of Cannon City was chosen chairman of that convention. 
The Colorado delegation succeeded in having p resolution passed by the Fort 
Worth convention requesting the Governor of Colorado (Aiva Adams), to call aa 
Inter-State Convention, which was done. The preliminarj' proceedings being as 
follows: 

The Committee of Arrangements was composed of thirteen members oi the 
Colorado Real Estate Exchange and thirteen members of the Chamber cf Com 
merce of Denver, as follows W P. Caruthers. Theo. W Herr. F D. Morse. John 
Mattler, W. G Sprague, j C Montgomery F L. Dana, Jas. A. Jones. Henry 
Apple, A. C. Fisk, R. A. Gurley, O. J Frost and Frank W Gove, Trom Real Es- 
tate Exchange. I. B. Porter, M. J. McNamara, Joseph E. Bates, E. M. Ashley "W 
N Byers, E. F Hallack, Geo A. Bushnell, Chas. A Raymond, J T Coraforth, 
Scott J. Anthony, Jas. A. Tedford, Thos. E. Poole and H. B Chamberlin trom the 
Chamber of Commerce. The Committee elected I. B. Porter chairman, F L. 
Dana secretary, and E. M. Ashley treasurer. 

By request of the Committee, Gov Alva Adams issued the following call: 

call fok the deep hareor convention, issued by the governor of coiiorado, 

State of Colorado, Governor s Office, 

Denver, Colorado, July 27th, 1888 

I have the honor to invite your attention to the following resolutions, adopted 
by a Convention held at Fort Worth, July 10th, 1888 

Whereas, All the States and Territories west of the Mississippi are interested 
in the pressing need of a deep water port on the coast of the State of Texas ; and- 

Whereas, Denver, Colorado, being centrally located, and very accessible to 
all the vast sections of country interested , therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the citizens of the City of Denver be requested by their 
delegates to this Convention, to call an Inter-State Deep Water Convention 
to be held in that city at such date as they may see fit, not later than August 28th, 
1888. 

In accordance with these resolutions, and in compliance with the request made 
by a committee of the Denver Chamber of Commerce and Board of Tradf>, and the 
Colorado Real Estate Exchange. I hereby call an Inter-State Deep Water Con 
vention of the States and Territories West of the Mississippi river, to be held at 
Denver, on the 28th day of August, 1888. 

The basis of representation at that Convention will be as follows: Two 
delegates from each Senatorial district, to be appointed by the Governor of the 
State or Territory. One delegate from each county to be appointed by the Board 
of County Commissioners, or by the Chairman of said Board. Five delegates from 
each Chamber of Commerce, Board of Trade, or commercial body m the various 
citieS; One delegate from each town having a population of 3,000 or less to be 
appointed by the Mayor or President of Trustees of said town. In each city or 
town having over 3,000 inhabitants, one additional delegate for each 5,0C0 or 
fraction thereof. Five delegates from each Editorial Association m the States and 
Territories interested. In all cases where deligates are appointed, an equal num- 
ber of alternates shall be appointed by the same authority 

The purpose of this Convention is to secure united and harmonious action of 
the middle and western states in a movement looking to the establishment of a 
Deep Water Harbor somewhere upon the Gulf of Mexico So important will be 



X APPEXDIX. 

the influence of such a harbor upon the prosperity of every farmer, artisan, miner 
and citizen of the great West, that it should impel everj official to whom this call is 
directed, to take prompt and effective action that will result in a great and infiueu- 
tial Convention. 

The Governors of the following States and Territories have been appointed 
Vice-Presidents o" the Denver Inter-state Deep Harbor Convention , Arkansas, 
Missouri, lovva, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, California, Texas, Oregon, r^evada, 
Colorado, Dakota, New Mexico, "Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Idaho, Utah, 
Indian Territory and Arizona. ALVA ADAMS, 

Governor of Colorado 

The Committee made arrangements with Senater Tabor for the use of his 
Grand Opera House during the sitting of the Convention. 

Opening of the Inter-State Deep Harbor proceedings. 

Mr. I. B. Porter, Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, called the meet- 
ing to order at 2 p. m. August 28th, 1888. 

Mr. Porter said : Ladies and Gentlemen— It devolves upon me by the arrange- 
ments of th Executive Committee to call this Convention to order. I desire to 
t say that we have undertaken to allot the space on the ground 
floor of this hall as nearly in proportion to each state as we possibly could with the 
information that we had of the attendance. We may ascertain after a few 
moments that it is not properly apportioned, in which case we will re-apportion it 
and accommodate the delegates from each state and territory. 

F L. Dana, Secretary of Committee of Arrangements, then read the call for 
the Convention issued by Governor Adams of Colorado, as appears above. 

Chairman Porter then said: The Committee has invited Governor Alva Adams 
to welcome the delegates to Colorado: 

GOVERNOR ADAMS' ADDRESS 

Governor Alva Adams : Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen : To me has been given 
the pleasant duty of extending a welcome to the delegates to this Conv^ention. Col- 
orado welcomes you as partners in a great enterprise. Sue welcomes you as she 
extends her greeting to those who are bound and linked together in the same com- 
mercial destiny Before this Convention there is a great object to be obtained, and 
by its attainment there will come a rich and perennial harvest of prosperity. Trans- 
portation is the measure of the welfare of eve^y American community. Every mile 
that IS added, every cent that is added to the cost of transportation of our produce 
of our supplies is that much a tax upon the industry of our citizens. In recognition 
of this principle we have met here to-day so that we may counsel together and by 
our united wisdom we may find some way that will lead to the building of a Deep 
Water Harbor somewhere upon the Texas coast of the G'df of Mexico. (Applause.) 
Where that harbor is to be is a matter of indifference to most of us, (applause), 
who are removed and distant from the influence of local competition and loca 
rivalry. ( i^pplause.) That point must be selected by competent hands. Let an 
honest, let a conscientious, let a scientific investigation determine which is the most 
feasible point, (applause), and then let every personal desire, every sectional inter 
est, every local ambition be merged and forgotten in one patriotic effort for the 
general good. (Applause.) If more than one harbor can be obtained so much the 
better. (Appl^^use.) But if one only can be secured, then let not its chances and its 
hopes be blighted and destroyed by the rivalry of other and dissapointed rivals. 
(Applause). But my friends, it matters not what course of action we may decide 
upon , it matters not what method we may elect to pursue here to-day, for between 
us and sacccss their is a determined and bitter conflict, which will require our 
gre? test exertions, our greatest ability and the greatest harmony to succeed. Every 



APPENDIX. 



port upon the Atlantic coast will be arrayed against us. Every material interest of 
the great East and the North will be against us; and then there is another enemy, 
that has controlled legislation and has affected the weal or woe of the people to a 
serious extent in some cases, and that is the great lines of transportation leading 
from the West to the East over the lines of latitude. These are the Scipios who 
would like to see every port upon the Mexican Gulf filled up and ruined just as 
Carthage and Corinth were destroyed when their magnificence and their growing 
traffic began to cast a shadow over the supremacy of the imperial city. (Applause), 
As our mind takes hold upon the subject, as we begin to look into it and consider 
the extent of territory and the resources that will be encircled and benefitted by 
the building of a great harbor upon the north coast of the .Gulf of Mexico, in which 
may float the commerce of the world, the greatness and the grandeur of this 
scheme are so imposing that its proportions seem to be described only by the 
words — sublime — magnificent. Wherever, my friends, shall be established a deep 
harbor upon the Gulf of Mexico, there we shall see spring up from the sands one 
of the most magnificent metropolises in this country. It will become the pride and 
the glory of the South, and it will at the same time be one of the richest jewels of 
that great circlet of cities which to-day adorn the bosom of our country. This is 
the city that will be erected there, and when we look into history, when we consider 
the seaports of antiquity, those who by their commercial supremacy have left an 
impress upon the annals of history, which time cannot efface, and for whose posses- 
sion empires have been lost and won, when we look upon those ancient capitols and 
we come to examine the resources that fostered and nourished them, we find that 
they were insignificant compared with the wealth that now surrounds and is tribu" 
tary to the western part of the Gulf of Mexico. (Applause). Nineteen states and ter- 
ritories will be direct beneficiaries of the deep water harbor, and these nineteen 
states and territories cover an area that is equal to one-third of our national domain, 
and decade after decade since this territory was won from the wilderness the inhabi- 
tants of that part of our country has almost doubled until to-day the population of 
this great region comprises nearly one-fifth of our many millions. And yet, great 
as has been the development, great as is the present population comparatively 
speaking, it is but the infancy of a mighty manhood. Our productions to-day are 
almost beyond our calculations, and for us to predict the possibilities of the .future 
would be to strain the imagination and to build up a pyramid of figures that would 
seem almost fabulous. The statistician tells us of the production of this great 
country. He will tell you of the cotton, of the corn, of the grain and of the stock. 
He will tell you of the iron, of the coal, of the gold and the silver. Then let him 
take and compare the acreage from whence those marvels have been produced with 
the extent of virgin territory which to-day lies untouched by the ax or the plough, 
by the shovel or the hoe, and we then can begin to form some conception, and begin 
to grasp something of that greatness, something of that traffic, and of that tonnage 
which will roll its wealth down upon the wharves of this prospective port. (Ap- 
plause). In the future this city will grow up and we will all be proud of it, and all be 
proud that we have been one of those who initiated the building, or the movement 
that has laid the foundation for the greatness that will come. Every interest that 
we possess is directly concerned in this movement. Our future pleads for its suc- 
cess. Nature has pointed the way which our traffic should go. The waters of this 
great region, the trend of the land is all towards the Mexican Gulf, and we thus 
have a great natural way for the future arteries of commerce, and any line of traffic, 
any method of transportation that will select these natural inclinations will find 
that it can perform its mission with less friction and at a minimum cost. If a deep 
water harbor is established upon the Texas coast, giving to us a direct and an air 
line to the sea, and to the markets that lie beyond, I believe that the saving in 



XII APPENDIX. 

freight alone in one year after that harbor is opened will more than amount to the' 
total cost of the building of the most extensive harbor upon the Gulf of Mexico. 
(Applause). But, my friends, in going through my calculations I have made no esti- 
mates that have not been based on the traffic that arises from American soil. But,, 
back of that there are still great possibilities that lie on the west of the Gulf. 
Across the Rio Grande there lies another empire of wealth, and the greater part of 
the Republic of Mexico is naturally tributary to the Texas coast and port. (Ap- 
plause). Mexico, my friends, I look upon as a natural and legitimate field for the 
enterprise and the hopes of our people (applause), and I do not think that I am 
doing violence to national faith when I predict an early abolition of every Mexican 
custom house by the peaceable conquest of the American flag over the dark hued- 
millions of Mexico. (A pjjlause). 

Between the South and the West there should be an alliance. They are natural 
allies as against the balance of the Union upon great industrial questions, (ap- 
plause), and if we join our hands together, and in accord and in harmony we work 
together, then will our voice be heard in the council chambers of the Nation. This, 
my friends, is what we should do here, work in accord and in harmony, the West 
and the South, joining in a great industrial alliance, — (applause) — that will bring 
to us an abundant harvest of prosperity in the time to come. We look to this Con- 
vention for wise and deliberate action. This Convention is not convened together 
for the consideration of little things. (Applause). It is not here to pursue and 
continue local conflicts. (Applause). We have met here to discuss problems and 
questions that aSect a mighty empire, and it is not, my friends, a real estate scheme. 
(Applause). We are not bearing aloft the gaudy banners of any town site boomers. 
(Applause). But, as we come here we meet in faith, and we meet in the trust that 
great good will come from our deliberations. It is a question not for little men, or 
little things, but it is one that should call for the highest wisdom and the deepest 
thought of the statesman. It is worthy of the greatest effort. It is worthy of the- 
most deliberate and conscientious action, and, my friends, I know that you will 
bring to your consideration and to this Convention all of those qualities which we 
look to from the great states that are here represented. I predict, my friends, 
although to-day success may not come, to-morrow it may be distant, but it will so 
Burely come as we use wisdom, as we use discretion and firmness in the advocacy 
of our cause. (Applause). It will surely come, and while I want to see that success 
certain, I hope that this will be the initial movement that will bring us together 
upon every occasion when the interests of our great section of country are involved. 
(Applause). And I hope that not only success will come, my friends, but that the 
friendly alliances that you will form here, that this meeting together in social inter- 
course, in friendly communion, will result in creating a closer friendship and frater- 
nal feeling between the citizens from all the states that stand represented before 
me to-day. (Applause). 

The Convention then elected Ex-Gov. John Evans, of Denver, temporary chair- 
man, and H. A. Lewis, of Dallas, Texas, temporary secretary. The permanent officers 
were Gov. John M. Thayer, of Nebraska, president, and F. L. Dana, of Denver, Colo- 
rado, secretary. There were present 752 delegates from 19 states and territories west 
of the Mississippi River. The result of the Convention after a four days' session 
was the adoption of the following resolutions: 

Whereas, It is the sense of the States of Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, 
Missouri, Iowa, Arkansas, California and Nevada, and of the Territories of New 
Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Dakota and Indian Territory, in Convention as- 
sembled at Denver, Colo., under the call of His Excellency Alva Adams, Governor of 
the State of Colorado, that the commercial, agricultural, mining, manufacturing 
and stock interests of all that part of the United States lying west of the Mississippi 



APPENDIX. XIII 

Kirer and the commercial and naval advantages of our country generally, demand, 
,a permanent deep water port on the northwest coast of the Gulf of Mexico; there- 
fore, be it 

Resolved, First, That the senators and representatives in Congress, from the 
states hereinbefore referred to, and the delegates from the territories herein set 
forth, be and they are hereby most earnestly requested to procure at once a perma- 
nent available appropriation of the amount necessary to secure a deep water port 
on the northwest coast of the Gulf of Mexico, west of the 93^ degrees west longi- 
tude capable of admitting the largest vessels, and at which the best and most ac- 
cessibla harbor can be secured and maintained in the shortest possible time, and 
and at the least cost. 

Second — That for the purpose of carrying into effect the foregoing resolutions, 
committees, to consist of five from each state and three from each territory, repre- 
sentative in this Convention, be appointed by their respective delegations; that it 
shall be the duty of said committees to see that the object of said resolution be 
properly presented and vigorously urged before Congress, and to that end and with 
the view of co-operation and concert of action, the chairmen of the respective com- 
mittees shall be and they are hereby constituted and created a central committee. 

Third — That the states and territories, and commercial bodies represented in 
this Convention approve the idea of securing deep water on the Gulf Coast of Texas 
by private capital, and they do hereby respectfully request and respectfully urge 
their senators, representatives and delegates in Congress to lend their united support 
to such bills as may be introduced for such purpose with proper safeguards for the 
protection of the government; provided that the port or point suggested be one de- 
sirable for the location of a deep water harbor. 

Whereas, The need of a deep water harbor on the coast of the Gillf of Mexico, 
directly and vitally affects nearly one-fourth of the people of the United States, we 
ideem the request contained in the foregoing resolutions, of such great and para- 
mount importance as to justify their early reference to the official notice of the 
President of the United States, in order that he may be duly and fully informed 
and be able, as contemplated in the Constitution of the United States, to "give to 
Congress information of the state of the Union, and recommend to their considera- 
tion such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient;" therefore be it 

Resolved, That a copy of the foregoing resolutions be transmitted to the Presi- 
dent of the United States, and that he be requested to make in his next annual mes- 
sage to the Congress of the United States, such recommendations with reference to 
the location of a deep water harbor on the northwest coast of the Gulf of Mexico as 
to him shall seem proper and expedient; and 

Whereas, It is of vital importance to all that vast region of country between 
:che Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean, including Minnesota, Oregon and Wash- 
ington Territory on the north, and Arkansas, Texas and California on the south, 
that a harbor deep enough to float any vessel that sails the ocean, and ample enough 
to protect the fleet that may be required to handle the commerce of this whole 
region of country, nearer to it than any other Atlantic seaport, be constructed on 
the northwest coast of the Gulf of Mexico as soon as practicable; and. 

Whereas, Such a harbor is of such great national importance that it is worthy 
of an ample appropriation from Congress for its construction; and. 

Whereas, We have already adopted a request to the present members of Con- 
gress to favor such appropriations, but would make that request more emphatic; 
therefore. 

Resolved, That the legislatures and people of all the states and territories in- 
cluded in the region described be earnestly requested hereafter to elect no senators, 
representatives or delegates to Congress except such as are known to be heartily in 



XIV APPENDIX. 

favor of such an appropriation, and will earnestly and faithfully work for it until 
such harbor is completed. 

The following committeemen were appointed, as provided in the first resolution, 
as a permanent committee: 

Arkansas — T. F. Sorrells, Pine Bluflf, Chairman; Wm. Fishbach, Fort Smith; 
Gov. Simon P. Hughes, Little Rock; J. W. T. Tiller, Pine Bluff; Wm. M. Duffy, 
Princeton. 

Texas — J. A. Carrol, Denton. Chairman; Walter Gresham, Galveston; G. W. 
O'Brien, Beaumont; John Hancock, Austin; Uriah Lott, San Antonio. 

CoLCR^DO — John Evans, Denver, Chairman; G. C. Davis, Leadville Secretary; 
Alva Adams, Denver; A. Wilson, Durango; W. S. Jackson, Colorado Springs 

K-ANSAs Howel Jones, Topeka; Alexander Caldwell, Leavenworth; W. E. 
Hutchinson, Wichita; J. S. Emery, Lawrence; Marsh M. Murdock, Wichita. 

Wyoming — Francis E. Warren, Cheyenne; J. Ll. Carey, Cheyenne; Fred J. 
Stanton, Cheyenne. 

Missouri — D. H. Armstrong, St. Louis; A. L. Tomblin, Stanberry; Col. H. F. 
Fellows, Springfield; J. S. Logan, St. Joseph; W. W. Anderson, Louisiana. 

Utah — E. Willden, Beaver; Chas. T. Stoney, Beaver. 

New Mexico — W. W. Griffin, Santa Fe; Frank C. Plume, Taos; Numa Ray- 
mond, Las Cruces. 

Nebraska — Champion S. Chase, Omaha, Chairman ; O. E. Goodell, Lincoln, 
Secretary; Joel Hull, Minden; Herman Kountze, Omaha; W. N. Nason, Omaha. 

Iowa — James M. Pieree, Des Moines, Chairman; A. P. Chamberlin, Des Moines, 
Secretary; Dr. W. O. Kulp, Davenport; D. W. Smith, Des Moines; B. Zevely, 
Council Bluffs. 

Arijcoija — W. E. Stevens, Mayor of Tueson; A. Leonard Meyer, Phoenix; Royal 
A. Johnson, Tucson. 

Later, on meeting of General Committeee the following officers were elected: 
President: John Evans. Denver, Colorado. Secretary: F. L. Dana, Denver, Colo. 
Treasurer: Alva Adams, Pueblo. 

Later, on meeting of Central Committee, the same persons were chosen as 
officers of the Central Committee. 

At this time arrangements were made for a subsequent meeting of the com- 
mittee at Dallas, Texas, October 17th, 1888. The meeting was held, resolutions 
passed providing for a systematic effort to get the Federal Congress to take prelim- 
inary steps to rapidly complete the harbor work in progress on the Gulf coast at the 
earliest possible moment. A committee was provided for to proceed to Washington 
to urge immediate action by Congress. The Hon. Walter Gresham, of Galveston 
Texas, was the only member of that committee present at Washington, and to his 
untiring efforts the Great West is indebted for a Board of Engineers being ordered 
to select the most eligible site for a deep harbor on the Texas Gulf coast, and a 
small api^ropriation to defray their expenses. "Wliile the recognition by Congress 
was small, it shows that the Inter-state Deep Harbor Committee has succeeded in 
starting tlio wedge that will ultimately accomplisli the object sought. 

The Inter-state Committee is a basis for the building up of a Western Commer- 
cial Congress that will represent all the states and territories west of the Missis- 
sippi River, before the National Congress, and demand increased appropriations for 
general internal improvements; besides encouraging or aiding inter-state commerce, 
and thereby increase the business of their several states. 

a plan for a western commercial, congress. 

It has been the author's opinion that the Western States and Territories should 
select delegates to a Commercial Congress, with representation in proportion to the 
commercial importance of each, in a lower house, and an upper house, com- 



APPKNDIX. XV 

posed of committeemen from the various legislatures, as follows: The lower 
house to be composed of business men, members of some commercial organization, 
appointed by the Governor of the State or Territory. A just proportion of dele- 
gates from each state at this time would probably be Missouri 75, California 60, 
Iowa 50, Minnesota 40, Texas 36, Kansas 30, Louisiana 20, Arkansas 10, Nebraska 7, 
South Dakota 3, Colorado 4, Oregon 3, Washington 3, Montana 3, North Dakota 3, 
Idaho 3, Utah 3, New Mexico 3, Arizona 3 and Indian Territory 3; giving a total 
representation of 361 members. 

The upper house (or senate) to consist of six delegates from each state and terri- 
torial legislature; three from the lower house and three from the senate, amounting 
to 114 members, who would be sent as committeemen at the expense of their re- 
spective states and territories. A precedent has been established for such com- 
mittees in St. Louis from various Western States and Territories to discuss the sub- 
ject of beef inspection and quarantine. 

In joint session a President of the Congress should be chosen, and duties pre- 
scribed. Each house then assemble separately, and select their presiding officers, 
clerks, etc. Resolutions and recommendations should be thoroughly discussed by 
both houses, and passed by a majority before receiving the signature of the 
President. The proceedings would form a basis for a report to the several legisla- 
tures by their committeemen. Questions discussed would be confined to that which 
affects the Great West, or any portion thereof. The expenses of the members of 
the lower house should be borne by their respective states in the way of appropria- 
tions, similar to that made by the late Colorado Legislature for the expenses of the 
members of the Inter-state Deep Harbor Committee. That committee is composed 
of representative men from nearly all of the states and territories comprising the 
Great West, and having an organization, should meet and take steps to provide for 
a Commercial Congress, turning over to the new organization the responsibility of 
securing deep harbors on the Gulf of Mexico. 



IRRIGATION RESEEVOIRS AND DUTY OF WATER. 

From Report of State Engineer, of Colorado, relative to reservoirs and duty 
of water, which is applicable to all the arid region, we quote the following: 

The construction of reservoirs for the storage of water for irrigation has receiv- 
ed a greater impetus during 1888 than during any other period in the history of the 
state. On the 16th and 17th of March of this year, there convened in the City of 
Denver, pursuant to a call made by the Governor, upon the request of a few wise 
and patriotic citizens, a large number of men representing various water districts, 
communities and organizations, and interested in the storage of water for irrigation. 
This assembly took the name of the "Storage Reservoir Convention." Papers perti- 
nent to the matter under consideration were read, and discussions of the questions 
in this way presented followed. The work of the convention culminated in a memo- 
rialization of Congress. The result of this and kindred efforts on the part of those 
interested in the progress of agriculture in the region of the west dependent upon 
irrigation, is embodied in "An act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses 
of the government, for the civil year ending June 13th, 1889, and for other pur- 
poses," whereby it was provided (inter alia) that there be appropriated, "for the 
purpose of investigating the extent to which the arid region of the Unitad States 
can be redeemed by irrigation, and for the selection of sites for reservoirs and other 
hydraulic works necessary for the storage and utilization of water for irrigation, 
and the prevention of floods and overflows, and to make the necessary maps, includ- 



XVI APPENDIX. 

ing the pay of employes in field and in office, the cost of all instruments, apparatus, 
materials, and all other necessary expenses connected therewith, the work to be 
performed by the Geological Survey, under the direction of the Secretary of the 
Interior, the sum of 8100,000 or so much thereof as may be necessary," and that "the 
Directors of the Geological Survey, under the supervision of the Secretary of the 
Interior, shall make a report to Congress on the first Monday in December of each 
year, showing in detail how the said money has been expended, the amount used for 
actual survey and engineer work in the field in locating sites for reservoirs, and an 
itemized account of the expenditures under this appropriation. And all the lands 
which may hereafter be designated or selected by such United States surveys for 
reservoirs, ditches or canals for irrigation purposes, and all the lands made suscepti- 
ble of irrigation by such reservoirs, ditches, or canals, are from time to time hence- 
forth hereby reserved from sale, as the property of the United States, and shall not 
be subject, after the passage of this act, to entry, settlement, or occupation, until 
further provided by law; Provided, That the President may. at any time in his 
discretion, by proclamation, open any portion or all of the lands reserved by this 
provision to seUlement under the homestead laws." 

It is not necessary to support at this late date the advisability of the construc- 
tion of reservoirs in Colorado. It is shown by the discharge sheets accompanying 
this report that the streams are at flood tide in the spring, and carry but small 
quantities of water during the fall and winter months. It is fortunate that, since 
the greatest flow of the streams is not confined to the irrigating season, it should 
occur during or just before that season. The time that the greatest quantity of 
water will have to be stored is thus short, so that the percentage of water that will 
be lost from the reservoirs by percolation and evaporation will thus be quite small 
compared with the percentage of loss that would accompany the storage of water 
in the fall and wmter months. It is in the securing and presentation of a knowledge 
of the water supply in certain portions of the state that this department has en- 
deavored to advance the cause of reservoir construction. Such information as this 
office contains has been placed at the disposal of the Director of the Geological Sur- 
vey. What has already been accomplished in the direction of reservoir construction 
is only partially showTi in the plates accompanying this report and in the tabulated 
statements before given. There is no doubt but that many reservoirs are being con- 
structed outside of the district platted, and of which no notice has been filed in this 
office. 

The portion of the precipitation in the mountains which is available for irriga- 
tion on the plains is the excess of the total precipitation over these quantities of 
water utilized by plants and animals, absorbed by or percolating into the earth, and 
•evaporated, and any measure that would result in the decrease of this loss would 
increase the available water for irrigation, and vice versa. The quantity of water 
which passes into the soil by absorption or percolation is, of course, not known, but 
it may be assumed to be small and beyond the power of man to materially affect. 
But the quantity of water evaporated and utilized by plants is by no means beyond 
man's ability to modify. Evajjoration is the re-vaporization of water; it takes place 
from wet surfaces exposed to the air; is more rapid, as a rule, on a clear day after a 
heavy shower, and is most rapid if, besides these conditions, there is ii strong, dry 
wind. Other things befng the same, evaporation is greater the higher the tempera- 
ture. It is, in general, greater from the surface of water than from land, and it is 
said to be one-third as rapid from the surface of trees as from the surface of water. 

Attention has hereinbefore been called to the fact that east of the Continental 
Divide, the precipitation of snow and rain in the mountains is much greater, in fact 
double, that upon the ])lains and valley lands, and that it is from this precipitation 
that the streams are directly or indirectly supplied. Just what proportion of this 



APPENDIX. XYII 

mountainous precipitation is lost, is not known, but the loss is probably not far from 
60 per cent, of snow and rain-fall for average years. It would seem to be in excess 
of that for the years of minimum, and less for the years of maximum precipitatton. 
It can be determined by calculating from the area of the water-shed and the 
natural discharge of these streams, about what depth of water over the entire 
water-shed of the stream is equivalent to the discharge of the streams in any one 
year. If this be done for the years of mean precipitation, and the water be taken 
from the corresponding depth over the water-sheds, as indicated by the precipita- 
tion records, it may be found what depths of water over the water-shed is lost to the 
purposes of irrigation. 

This information may be used as a basis from which to estimate the discharge 
of streams which have not been measured. Of course, such an estimate is only 
roughly approximate. The area of the water-shed, not only of the streams measured, 
but of all of the streams running from the mountains of Colorado, can be quite 
accurately determined from the topographical maps and atlas of Colorado, prepared 
by F. V. Hayden, United States Geologist. 

It is to be regretted that records of precipitation have not been taken at 
numerous places in the mountains. The record at Pike's Peak can only furnish a 
basis for a very rough estimate of the precipitation in the mountains east of the 
Continental Divide. 

The evaporation from the surface of water on the plains of Colorado is, as a rule, 
between one-eighth and one-quarter of an inch per diem. These matters have been 
been set forth as a preface to a theory recently advanced by Major J. W. Powell, 
Director of the Geological Survey, concerning the effect of the removal of our 
mountain forests upon irrigation, which it seems desirable to present, in connection 
with the consideration of storage reservoirs, since, as is readily seen, it is intimately 
connected therewith. As Major Powell's view of this subject has been recently 
made known, so that time has not been afforded for the mature consideration of it; 
as it involves questions concerning which but little is known, and the importance of 
which is too great to permit of hasty conclusions, and as the consideration of the 
subject naturally falls to the State Forest Commissioner, it is only briefly set forth, 
and the position is indorsed here to that extent only which is indicated by a strict 
interpretation of the remarks made in connection therewith. This new theory is in 
direct opposition to the prevailing belief that the preservation of our mountain 
forests is necessary to the welfare of irrigation, and may be stated in two parts as 
follows: 

Part I. — By reason of the mountain forests in Colorado, the total quantity of 
water flowing through the canons of the streams is less than would be the case were 
the forests removed. 

Part II. — The quantity of water available for late irrigation on the plains 
would be materially increased by the removal of the mountain forests. 

These are, no doubt, startling statements to many. Our forests have for so long 
been credited with the benevolent purpose of holding around their roots the precip- 
itation upon the mountains until the proper time arrives to permit the water to 
gravitate towards the channels, and thus to the plains for the benefit of late irriga- 
tion, that it is hard in one breath to divest the mind of a belief in their generous 
qualities, and feel assured, as this theory requires, that they selfishly thrive, at the 
expense of the weaker, but more valuable vegetation which irrigation fosters. 

The old theory that the removal of the mountain forests is prejudicial to irriga- 
tion interests, seems to rest primarily upon the assumptions that the forests tend 
to increase the rainfall, and that they equalize the flow of water in the streams 
throughout the year, and that in consequence thereof more water is caused to fall 
than would otherwise fall, and that not only a greater supply of water is thus furn- 



XVIIi APPENDIX. 

ished the Btreams, but that It is furnished later in the irrigation season when most 
needed, for the reason that the snows lay long in the shade of the forests and are 
slowly melted. It is held, however, by recent able writers and students of the sub- 
ject, that forests exert no appreciable influence on the rainfall. This is, for certain 
reasons, connected with the relation borne by currents of air to high peaks, more 
likely to be true on the mountains of Colorado than in most other localities, and as 
a general principal, it would seem to be sustained by the fact, that the most careful 
observations, extending in some cases over hundreds of years, have failed to indicate 
with reference to any country where irrigation has been practiced, that by reason of 
the vegetation so fostered, however luxuriant it may have been, any increase of 
rainfall has been occasioned. That forests (especially those which are deciduous, 
i. e., drop their leaves) situated on low mountains, such as those at the head-waters 
of the upper tributaries of the Ohio river, tend to equalize the flow of water in the 
streams, and especially to prevent floods, it is believed no one denies. The forests, 
situated near the summits of the ranges in Colorado, are especially effective in keep- 
ing up a late flow of the streams, is admitted by all, for reasons that will shortly 
appear. 

The new theory would seem to rest upon the assertions that the late water now 
furnished for irrigation by the streams come chiefly from the great drifts of snow 
above timber line; that the mountain forests of Colorado prevent, to a great ex- 
tent, the snows falling below timber line on our mountains from drifting into deep 
chasms and ravines, and consequently prevent the formation of additional great 
snow drifts; that there is less loss by evaporation from the snow gathered in drifts 
than where the snow is not so collected, on the same principle that a greater evapo- 
ration occurs from a given quantity of water exposed in a broad and shallow basin 
than occurs when the water is conflned in a deep and narrow depression; that there 
is a much greater loss by evaporation from the snow sheltered by the trees, and 
spread out for long periods to the action of the air ever circulating in currents 
over the mountains, than from snow exposed to the sun, and permitted to melt 
rapidly, and that the moisture absorbed by the forests of the mountains is very 
considerable, and if carried to the plains would nourish a very great acreage of 
crops. 

In this connection it may be observed, that the late water for irrigation furn- 
ished many of the streams, does come chiefly from the great snow drifts above timber 
line, though other streams — Bear Creek, for example — are supplied during the late 
season almost entirely from springs; that the forests do prevent, to a very great ex- 
tent, the mountain snows from drifting into deep ravines; that the mountain forests 
do absorb a large amount of moisture; that spring floods do bring down great quan- 
tities of water; that in some of the streams more water is carried during a few days 
of the spring than during the entire succeeding period embraced between the 15th 
of August and the 15th of October; that the evaporation of snow gathered in drifts 
IS much less, as a rule, than from snow not so collected; that forests protect the 
snow beneath them by choking the high winds, which sometimes evaporate in a few 
hours great flelds of snow from areas not protected by trees. 

A great diversity of conditions is observable in Colorado, even above the 9,000- 
foot contour line, where are presented southern exposures and northern exposures, 
localities visited by easterly winds, others by westerly winds, some by dry winds and 
some by comparatively moist winds, and localities where the snow, if slowly melted, 
would seep into the soil, re-appearing at lower levels as springs, and others where 
the snow, if so melted, would percolate into the porous strata and never appear again 
upon the surface; localities where, if the mountain forests were removed, the snow 
would, perhaps, be lapped up by dry winds, to be precipitated beyond the confines 
of the state, i /bile in other places, if the forests were removed, the snow might be 



APPE>rDIX. XIX 

blown into great drifts on the ragged breasts of great mountains where the sun 
could scarcely melt it during the entire season. 

These diversified conditions presented in Colorado, considered in connection 
with the theories and remarks pertaining thereto, above given, would seem to indi- 
cate that neither theory is in harmony with the peculiar conditions observed in all 
portions of the state. 

It may not be amiss to call attention here to the fact that the laws governing water, 
in whatever form we find it, are most difficult to fathom, and that no theory based 
upon experiments and observations of it under certain conditions, can be applied 
without modification to water under different conditions. To illustrate this, water 
in an ordinary ditch of economical cross-section flows most rapidly in the center of 
the channel and just below the surface. It might be assumed that such would be 
the case in a rectangular flume also, yet in some rectangular flumes (where the 
depth is about equal to the width), the maximum velocity of water is found near the 
bottom. It is evident, at any rate, that the removal of the mountain forests will 
materially affect the quantity of water supplied to the streams, and that the effect 
of this removal of the forests will be different in different portions of the state. 

Looked at in the light of the new theory, the application to beneficial use of 
the forests of certain portions of the state may be welcomed, for it will be felt that 
the moisture they absorb and encourage to evaporate will be rendered, by their re- 
moval, available for irrigation, and thereby there will, in effect, be transported from 
the inaccessible mountain tops to the accassible plains, many thousands of acres of 
fertile lands. On the other hand, it would seem that the removal of the forests 
from certain portions of the mountains would be but an invitation to dry winds to 
carry with them to unknown regions, large quantities of the moisture which is so 
much needed by the irrigator, or cause the waters of these portions of the moun 
tains to flow to the plains in floods at seasons when they were not the most needed. 

Whatever the beliefs which are entertained on this subject may be— and an 
effort has been made to state them and the reasons therefor impartially, though 
this has of course been done imperfectly, since the proper presentation of them 
would require great time and research — the rapid removal of our forests is actually 
taking place, and results beneficial or injurious will certainly accompany this 
change. The ordinary floods observable in our streams may, beyond doubt, be at- 
tributed chiefly to this cause. These flood waters, during a portion of the season, 
are not used directly for irrigation. They will, unless stored, be lost to the use of 
the irrigator. To store the excess of flood water will require a great expenditure of 
money. Before this money can be wisely expended, a great deal of information will 
have to be collected and furnished the people of the state. It is the policy of other 
irrigating counties to collect such information, and no doubt will be of Colorado. 
But this state may delay the securing of this desirable information until after tne 
failures of extensive projects by its citizens, occasioned by lack of this information, 
shall force the attention of the legislature to the subject, or, it may profit by the ex- 
perience of other irrigating countries, rapidly push the collection of statistics perti- 
nent to reservoirs, and be ready to meet in this respect the demands shortly to be 
made for this information. Of primary importance, in this connection, is a collection 
of information concerning the water supply; the demands already made upon this 
supply; the evaporation from water surfaces not only on the plains but in the 
mountains; the evaporation from the soil; the precipitation throughout the various 
portions of the state; the character of the sediment in our streams and the laws 
governing the motion and deposit thereof, and the duty of water in various dis- 
tricts throughout the state. 



XX APPENDIX. 

DUTY OF WATER. 

By the duty of water is meant the efficiency of a known quantity of water in the 
irrigation of crops. It is usually expressed in the number of acres that a cubic foot 
of water jjer second, running as long as needed during the irrigation season, will 
irrigate. The cubic foot of water per second of time, sometimes called the second 
foot, has been previously described herein, and stated to be the unit of measure 
nient adopted in the distribution of water from the natural streams of the state 
into the irrigating canals and ditches. There has recently come into use, though 
not yet recognized by our laws, a new unit of measurement, applicable more es- 
pecially to the consideration of water stored in reservoirs, which is designated the 
acre foot of water or acre foot. By the acre foot is meant 43,560 cubic feet, or the 
quantity of water which will exactly cover one acre of surface to a depth of one 
foot. Any statement in which the duty of water in Colorado is expressed as a 
deHnite quantity is arbitrary. As previously remarked, the laws governing water 
under certain conditions are not applicable to water under different conditions. 
For example : The observed duty of w"ater in northern Italy, where the mean an- 
nual precipitation is about thirty -eight inches, and where the atmosphere, which 
bathes and in part sustains plant life, is quite humid, can be only very remotely in- 
dicative of what the duty of water is or should be on the plains of Colorado, where 
the mean annual precipitation is only about fifteen inches, and the atmosphere very 
dry. Since the annual fall of rain on the plains of Eastern Colorado varies from 
about ten 'to about twenty inches, the same quantity of water will not be required 
each year for the irrigation of any given acreage of crops, or a given quantity of 
water distributed, under otherwise similar conditions, will irrigate a greater area 
during the years of maximum precipitation than during the years of minimum pre- 
cipitation. 

Some kinds of crops require more water than others, and the same crops on 
some soils require more water than on other soils. Two cubic feet of water per 
.second carried on to a field in one body will, under conditions otherwise the same, 
irrigate more than twice the area that one cubic foot per second carried alone 
would irrigate. Many additional statements might be made showing that the duty 
of water, when expressed in the number of acres that can be irrigated by a second 
foot of water running during the irrigating season, differs with each year, each 
character of crops, soil, sub-soil, etc. — in fact, with the slightest change in any of 
the governing conditions. 

As there is a demand for general results in this matter, it may be stated, rela- 
tive to the duty of water on the plains of Colorado, measured where distributed to 
the land, that one second foot, running throughout the irrigating season, in addi- 
tion to about five inches of rain-fall during April and May, and 4.5 inches during 
June, July and August, if distributed with fair care to diversified crops, on what 
might be called average land, would irrigate from sixty to seventy acres. It is no- 
ticed that, to accomplish this duty, it must be measured where placed upon the % 
land. This is not always considered in speaking of the duty of water. A second 
foot of water diverted from a stream at a point some miles from the land to which 
it is designed to distribute it, might, by reason of evaporation and seepage, never 
reach the land. It is sometimes convenient, however, to refer to the duty of water 
of certain streams or canals, when reference is had to the quantity of water flowing 
in the stream, usually at its canon, or permitted to enter the canal. 

As in ditches of considerable length, twenty-five to thirty miles, it is not un- 
common to lose by evaporation and seepage 25 to 30 per cent, of water turned into 
the ditch, the estimated duty of the water turned into the ditch might be placed at 
say fifty acres. But as the ditches are used, they lose less water, as a rule, from 
year to jear by percolation] and the lands to which they supply water need, after 



APPENDIX. XXI 

several applications of the water, in seme cases at any rate, less water than at first; 
and since as water increases in value, it is more economically used, the duty of 
water, whatever be the locus of the measurement, is continually increasing in Colo- 
rado, and it is thought that when distributed with the greatest care, and in suffi- 
cient quantity to be handled without great waste, during the seasons of average 
rain-fall, and to crops and soils fairly conditioned for its economical use, that the 
duty of water should approach ninety acres to the second foot. If the duty of 
water in connection with some of our streams is considered, it will be found that, 
notwithstanding all losses by seepage and evaporation, the efficiency of the water 
can be placed at over one hundred acres per second foot. This is accounted for by 
the return of much of the water diverted by the upper ditches to the channel of the 
stream, and its re-diversion by lower ditches, so that portions of it are again and 
again distributed to the land. With more storage reservoirs this duty will be still 
further increased. 

There are methods of distribution by which water can be caused to effect a duty 
far surpassing that possible with the be^st surface irrigation, which is the form of irri- 
gation considered above. One of these methods which is peculiarly adapted to fruit 
culture, and the cultivation of garden vegetables, is that wherein perforated pipes 
are laid below the surface of the ground and distribute water to the roots of plants 
and trees. The attention of this department has been called by Mr. F. E. Farish, 
of Arizona, to the remarkable success obtained by the use of this method of cultiva- 
tion, applied to his orchards in Yuba County, California, by the late Hon. G. G. 
Briggs, who has been known to declare that one acre of land irrigated in this way 
would yield returns the net value of which was equivalent to that obtainable from 
fifty acres of land irrigated on the surface. Sediment in the water distributed to 
the perforated pipes, it may be observed, is fatal to the success of this plan, so that 
the water must be settled before being used. 

MAJOR J. W. POWEL's REPORT ON STORAGE RESERVOIRS UNDER THE GEOLOGICAL. 

SURVEY. 

The following is the report in full of the Geological Survey on the division of 
the waters of the Platte and Arkansas rivers and their tributaries for purposes of 
irrigation: 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the following Senate resolution, 
with instructions endorsed thereon: 

In the Senate of the United States, 

August 29, 1888. 

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Interior be directed to inquire and report 
to the Senate at its next session the extent to which the diversion of the waters of 
the Platte and Arkansas Rivers and their tributaries in Colorado for irrigation and 
other purposes, affects the flow of the waters of those streams in the lower valleys, 
and especially during the growing season; and whether, in his opinion, the title con- 
veyed by the government to lands fronting on said stream covers the privilege of 
diverting water therefrom beyond that necessary for use thereon for irrigation and 
mining purposes, and to report what action is needed to protect the rights of ripa- 
rian owners along the waters of said streams in the states of Kansas and Arkansas, 
and what measures can be devised to increase the flow of water in those streams 
during such seasons. 

(Attest). Anson G. McCook, Secretary. 

[Indorsement]. 
Department of the Interior, ) 

September 1, 1888. \ 
Copy. Respectfully referred to the Director of the United States Geological 
Survey, with request that he will make the inquiry as requested by the resolution, 



XXII APPENDIX. 

as to the extent and effect of the diversion of the waters of the streams specified, and 
what measures can be devised to increase the water in such streams, and report the 
result to this department. Willl\5i .F. Vil.\s, Secretary. 

In compUance with the above instructions the following brief preliminary 
report is submitted: 

It is not possible to report fully and satisfactorily on the subject at the present 
stage of its investigation, as accurate observations have not yet been made to a 
sufficient extent to give good quantitative results. The work of the survey of the 
arid lands now in progress will ultimately give good data for the solution of the 
problem, and at such time it is probable that a satisfactory report can be made. 

REPORT. 

The Platte and the Arkansas have their sources in the mountains of Colorado 
and Wyoming, but after passing the Colorado and "Wyoming lines, they receive great 
additions to their volumes from the storms and streams of the lower country; so 
that but a small portion of the water which these rivers discharge into the Mis- 
souri and Mississippi comes from the mountain regions. In Colorado and Wyoming 
all agriculture is dependent upon artificial irrigation, as the water which comes 
direct from the heavens to the agricultural lands is insufficient to produce crops. 
The same is true of the western portion of Kansas and Nsbraska. In this portion 
of the arid region under consideration, embracing a part of Colorado, a part of Wyo- 
ming, a part of Nebraska, and a part of Kansas, agriculture is possible only by 
diverting the water of the streams out upon the adjacent lands; and the real ques- 
tion is this: What effect will the development of irrigation in Colorado and Wyo- 
ming have upon irrigation in Nebraska and Kansas? The North Platte, the South 
Platte and the Arkansas present distinct problems; they must therefore be con- 
sidered separately in this statement. 

The Platte has two branches— the North Plarte, draining a large area in Wy- 
oming ; the South Platte, a large area m Colorado. Much of the region drained by 
the North Platte in Wyoming is at so great an elevation above the sea, that agricul- 
ture cannot be made profitable — that is, the climate is too cold and the season to« 
short to cultivate as profitable series of crops ; but some portions of the Wyoming 
region lie at lower altitudes, where profitable agriculture can be carried on. The 
area of such lands, however, is not sufficient to utilize all the waters of the North 
Platte. Ultimately a large volume of this water can be used across the line in Ne- 
braska to better advantage than in Wyoming, and the storage of the waters of ,the 
North Platte, which will be chiefly in Wyoming, will greatly benefit Nebraska— in 
fact, Nebraska is far more interested in the storage of the waters of the North 
Platte than Wyoming, for in general the storage of the waters of the North Platte 
will benefit Wyoming to a very slight degree. It must be understood that irriga- 
tion can be practiced without storage by using the waters of the running streams 
during the season of irrigation, which is very short, usually averaging for various 
crops about two months in this region. Storage increases the area of irrigable 
lands by holding back in reservoirs the water that would otherwise run to waste 
during ten months of the year. It is this water, to be stored about the headquar- 
ters of the North Platte, by which the i^eople of Nebraska are to be chiefly bene- 
fited. 

The South Platte has its source in the mountains of Colorado. In that state 
irrigation is already greatly developed, so that practically all the water of the South 
Platte which flows from the mountains during the season of irrigation is already 
used in critical seasons. Whether this water should be surrendered by the people 
of Coiorado to the people of Nebraska; whether the agricultural industries along 
the Platte and its tributaries in Colorado should be destroyed in order that new in- 



APPENDIX. 

dustries in Nebraska may be created, is a question that every one can easily answer 
for himself. But there is a further condition worthy of consideration. If tlie 
waters of the South Platte now used in Colorado were used in Nebraska, the area 
brought under cultivation in the latter state would be very much smaller than the 
area now under cultivation in Colorado by the use of the same waters. 

This fact results from well known physical conditions. In that arid region the 
rain is condensed on the mountains ; comparatively little falls on the arid plains, 
not enough to produce perennial streams. When the waters debouch from the 
mountains into the plains their channels are radically changed ; they are narrow, 
deep and clear ; where they run across the plains they are wide and shallow, and 
their waters are loaded with mud. The muddy waters are spread out below in 
wide channels of sand. A stream may be several hundred yards wide and only a few 
inches deep. The water permeates these sands and a large portion is evaporated- so 
that a stream steadily diminishes in volume from the mountams across the arid 
plains until a more humid region is reached, where it again increases in size. It is 
for this reason that the waters of the South Platte will irrigate a much larger area 
in Colorado near the mountains than in Colorado near the Nebraska line; and the 
area which they will irrigate in Nebraska is still smaller. 



^ <^\. \ .r.:^ 










MEASURING THE PLOW OF WATER. 

It is probable that three acres can be irrigated near the mountains of Colorado 
where only one acre can be irrigated in Nebraska. This must be understood, how- 
ever, as an estimate, and not as actually determined by stream gauges. 

The waters of the South Platte flowing through the irrigation season, are already 
substantially used near to the mountains, and the important question to be deter- 
mined is what effect will storage have upon the supply of water from this stream? 
It has already been stated that the waters of the North Platte can be advantageously 
and economically stored in the mountain region, but this is not true of the South 
Platte. With some important exceptions the waters of the South Platte must be 
stored below, as the declivity of the mountains drained by that river is in general 
too great to afford favorable places for their storage; they will therefore have to be 
stored in the foot hills and on the plains. 

All of this stored water will decrease the volume of the South Platte where it 
crosses the Colorado-Nebraska line during the non-irrigating season, but when 
the mountain waters of the non-irrigating season are stored in this manner, 
and poured upon the lands of Colorado, and used for agricultural purposes, a 
part of this stored water will be evaporated to the heavens, but another part 



XXIV APPENDIX. 

— and a large part — will be returned to the Platte, where it can be recovered 
and again carried to the irrigable lands further down the stream in Eastern C!olo- 
rado and Western Nebraska. 

This general statement may therefore be made: The use of the water which 
falls as rain during the irrigating season near to the mountains in Colorado, as it is 
now cliiefly used, greatly diminishes the volume in Western Nebraska; but, on the 
other hand, the storage of water during the non-irrigating season, to be used during 
the irrigating season will greatly increase the water available for Nebraska during 
the irrigating season. Taking the facts as they are, namely, that the Avaters of the 
South Platte falling during the irrigating season are already used in Colorado, the 
prospect for irrigation from the South Platte in Western Nebraska depends upon 
the storage of the waters falling during the non-irrigating season. The greater the 
amount of water stored in Colorado, the greater will be the area irrigated in 
Nebraska. 

The waters of the Arkansas that flow during the irrigating season are partly 
used in Kansas, but chiefly in Colorado; so that already in critical seasons the river 
runs dry near the Colorado-Kansas line. The future development of irrigation in 
the valley of the Arkansas therefore depends chiefly upon the storage of water. 
This storage can be accomplished with advantage, in fact with great economy, in 
the mountain regions of Colorado. Along the headwaters of this stream in the 
mountains there are many mountain meadows and morainal valleys, where lakes 
can be created to store large bodies of water at small expense. When the waters 
of these mountain streams are stored in the upper regions, where they are compar- 
atively clear, the reservoirs have a permanent value, from the fact that they 
will not be speedily filled with sediment; but if reservoirs be constructed below on 
the plains, and the rivers taken out where they are muddy, and excessively muddy, 
as is the case with the Arkansas, the storage basins will be speedily filled with sedi- 
ment and destroyed. If stored on the plains, as in the case of the South Platte, the 
water must be diverted from the natural channels where they debouch from the 
mountains and carried in canals to the storage basins. This adds greatly to the 
expense of storage. 

But there is another consideration affecting this question of great importance. 
In the lowland reservoirs the evaporation from the surface would be 50 to 75 inches, 
and the lowland reservoirs would therefore lose a large body of water in this manner, 
while in the highland reservoirs the evaporation would probably be not greater than 25 
inches, and might often be less. Whenever highland reservoirs are i)ossible, the water 
must be stored in the upper regions, and these conditions control in the case of the 
Arkansas River. The waters of the Arkansas cannot be taken out within the boun- 
daries of the State of Kansas and stored in reservoirs, from the fact that they 
contain so much silt that the reservoirs would be speedily obliterated. The flow in 
waters in the irrigating season is already provided for. All additional irrigation 
from these waters would be so small that all state interests may be neglected. 

The irrigatmg season on this river is, on an average, something more than two- 
months, while the waters run to waste for more than nine months. It is this waste- 
water that 18 to be stored in the mountains, ^\^latever is thus stored will decrease- 
the volume passing the Kansas-Colorado line during the non-irrigating season; but 
will greatly increase the volume passing the line during the irrigating season; and 
as in the case of the South Platte, the prospect for irrigation in Western Kansas 
depends upon the storing of water m Colorado. The greater the storage the greater 
will be the area irrigated in Kansas. 

It must be understood that in the above statement the primary facts and prin- 
ciples have been set forth, and general results given. Exact quantitative results 
cannot be given at this stage of the investigation; but if the work of the irrigatioa 



APPENDIX. 



XXV 



survey is continued until the survey is completed, practical quantitative results will 
be afforded. 

When the investigation was begun under the instructions of the Secretary, I 
had not carefully considered the subject, and had made no collection of the availa 
ble facts relating thereto ; and I supposed that the waters of the South Platte and 
of the Arkansas falling in Colorado would be wholly or chiefly utilized in Colorado- 
and I reasoned in this manner from the consideration that the people of Colorado 
are already engaged in these industries, and are more likely to specially develop ir- 
rigation industries than are the people in Kansas and Nebraska. But there was 
another consideration which engrossed my attention for the time. On the arid 




Opening the Water. 

plains no perennial streams are born. The water which falls from the heavens is in 
the main evaporated back to the heavens, though when great storms, fall storm 
waters, collecting for a few hours, or a few days at most, flow into the perennial 
streams that head in the mountains and cross the plains ; and I suppose that hke 
results would follow from the spread of irrigating waters on the lands. But experi- 
ence in California, in Utah, in Colorado, and on the Gila in Arizona, abundance 
exhibits the fact that the waters used in irrigation are but partially evaporated, and 



XXVI APPENDIX. 

that a very largo quantity finds its way again to the streams. It is thus that the 
facts of experience have modified preconceived hypotheses. 

Ultimately a very large area in Kansas and Nebraska will be irrigated by im- 
pounding the local storm waters of that region, and the topographical conditions 
are very favorable for such enterprises. But besides the irrigation which it is 
possible to accomplish through the imj^ounding of storm waters, considerable areas 
will be irrigated through the utilization of the waters of the North Platte, the South 
Platte and the Arkansas — all contingent, however, upon the condition tliat the 
waters of these streams are stored above. 

It must be remembered that the upper Arkansas, the North Platte and the 
South Platte are not navigable streams. They are all exceedingly broad, muddy 
rivers, having great declivity, and so shallow as to be practically impassible for even 
canoes during the greater part of the year. They are thin sheets of mud tumbling 
down a highly inclined plain; so that the interests of navigation are in no way 
affected by the use of these streams for agriculture. 

The use of these streams for agricultural purposes will have no practical effect 
upon their uses as powers in Kansas and Nebraska. Because of the great amount of 
sediment which they carry, they have little value as powers; for if hydraulic works 
were constructed along their upper courses, it would be at an enormous expense, on 
account of their great width, and because they run through vast accumulations of 
sand; and if the streams were dammed, and ponds created, they would speedily be 
filled by the enormous inflow of sand. There is yet a further consideration. The 
rain which falls in Kansas and Nebraska furnishes a sufficient volume of water for 
the Platte and Arkansas alike for all possible prospective use as mechanical powers. 

From the above statement it will appear that the question of the use of the 
Platte River and of the Arkansas, is one affecting agriculture only, and that the 
amount of irrigable lands redeemed in Nebraska and Kansas by the waters of the 
Platte and Arkansas depends upon the amount of water stored in Colorado and 
Wyoming. 

Commissioner of the General Land Office, Stockslager, makes the following 
report on the same subject: 

I have the honor to return herewith the resolution of the Senate of the United 
States of August 29th, 1888, which you referred to me on the first of September, 1888, 
with a request for the expression of my views "upon the inquiry as to whether the 
title conveyed by the Government to land bordering on the streams specified, con- 
veys the privilege of diverting water therefrom beyond what is necessary for use 
thereon for irrigation and mining purposes, and what action is necessary to protect 
the rights of riparian owners along the waters of said streams in Kansas and 
Nebraska." 

This resolution refers to the diversion of the waters of the Platte and Arkansas 
Rivers and their tributaries for irrigation and other purposes in Colorado, and inquir- 
ies, first, to what extent such diversion affects the flow of the waters of those streams in 
the lower valleys, and especially during the growing season; second, whether the title 
conveyed by the Government to lands fronting on said streams covers the privilege 
of diverting water therefrom, beyond that necessary for use thereon for irrigating 
and mining purposes; third, what action is needed to protect the rights of riparian 
owners along the waters of said streams in Kansas and Nebraska; fourth, what 
measures can be devised to increase the flow of water in these streams during such 
seasons. 

Of these matters only those embraced under the second and third heads come 
within your request for an expression of my views. 

In reference to the former, I have to state tliat the title conveyed by the Govern- 
ment carries with it the right to the enjoyment of the water privileges attaching 



APPENDIX. 



XXVU 



under the common and statute law to the proprietorship of the land. This right ia 
affected by certain provisions of the acts of Congress of July 26, 186G, (14 Stat., 253) 
July 9, 1870, (16 Stat., 217), and May 10, 1872, (17 Stat., 91) now embodied in sections 
2339 and 2340, United States Revised Statutes. These sections read as follows: 

Sec. 2339. Whenever by priority of possession, rights to the use of water for 
mining, agricultural, manufacturing or other purposes have vested and accrued, and 
the same are recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, laws and the 
decisions of courts, and the possessors and owners of such vested rights shall be 
maintained and protected in the same; and the right of way for the construction of 
ditches and canals for the purposes herein specified is acknowledged and confirmed- 




Diagram showing Main Cana' and Lateral. 

but whenever any person, in the construction of any ditch or canal, injures or dam- 
ages the possession of any settler on the public domain, the party committing such 
injury or damage shall be liable to the party injured for such injury or damage. 

Sec. 2340. All patents granted, or pre-emptions or homesteads allowed, shall 
be subject to any vested and accrued water rights, or rights to ditches and reser- 
voirs used in connection with such water rights as may have been acquired under 
or recognized by the preceding section. 

The foregoing statutes recognise the rights subsisting under the "local customs, 
laws, and the decisions of courts," to the use of water for mining, agricultural, man- 
ufacturing or other purposes, and enact that the possessors and owners thereof 
shall be maintained and protected in the same, and the right of way for the con- 



XXVIII APPENDIX. 

struction of "ditches and canals" for the purposes specified, is acknowledged and ' 
confirmed. All patents granted, or pre-emptions, or homesteads allowed, are made 
subject to the rights so recognized, acknowledged and confirmed. 

The statutes of Colorado, which provide elaborately for the regulation and pro- 
tection of such water rights, may be found in the General Statutes, State of Colo- 
rado, of 1883, page 560 et seq., and for information on the general subject, Gould on 
Waters, sections 220 to 210, inclusive, may be consulted. 

The "local laws, customs and decisions of courts," so for as I am able to ascer- 
tain, appear to admit of the diversion of water from streams to an extent beyond 
what is implied in the expression "necessary for use on the lands fronting on the 
streams for irrigation and mining purposes." They seem to contemplate the con- 
veying of the water for use beyond the land fronting immediately on the streams, 
and even for use in reservoirs, for mining, agricultural, manufacturing and other 
purposes. 

In reference to the inquiry touching the right of riparian owners, I can only 
suggest, with the limited data in my possession, that the question, having reference 
to the vested rights of owners under existing laws, does not appear to be one for 
legislative or departmental action, and that in case of controversy the courts are 
open for the adjudication of the rights of such parties, whatever they may be, under 
the law and the facts of the particular case. 



BURLINGTON & MISSOURI RAILWAY. 

The first spike of the above road was driven in 1869, at Plattsmouth, Nebraska. 
This road has 1,265.90 miles of main line, 1,516.33 miles of branches, and 372.04 miles 
of sidings and double tracks, making a total of 2,782.23 miles of road, including 35.71 
miles operated jointly with the Kansas City, St. Joe and Council Bluffs Railway. 
The important cities connected with this line are Denver, Colorado; Cheyenne, 
Wyoming; Omaha, Lincoln, Hastings, Beatrice, Nebraska City and Grand Island, 
Nebraska; Concordia and Atchison, Kansas; Des Momes, Burlington, Keokuk and 
Dubuque, Iowa ; St. Joseph, Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri ; St. Paul, 
and Minneapolis, Minnesota; Galesburg, Peoria, Rockford, Aurora and Chicago, 
Illinois. The above list of important cities on this line is an evidence of the impor- 
tant part this road has taken in the development of the Great West. The traffic 
department reports the following: number of tons of freight hauled in 1888, 2,556,- 
715; number of passengers carried, 1,547,401; number of freight cars hauled 1 mile, 
60,712,555; number of passengers hauled 1 mile, 12,752,676. The company owns the 
following excellent equipment: 95 passenger coaches; 75 baggage, mail and express 
cars; 220 locomotives; 0,141 freight cars of all kinds. They have recently added dming 
car service through to Denver from Chicago, and free chair cars. 

This company has connecting points with other lines as follows: Cheyenne, 
Wyoming ; Denver and Sterling, Colorado ; Hastings, Kearney, Grand Island, 
Edgar, Wilcox, Alma, Minden, St. Paul, Ord, Loup City, Fairmont, York, David 
City, Columbus, Seward, Crete, Lincoln, Beatrice, Pawnee City, Schuyler, Wahoo, 
Dunbar, Louisville, Omaha, Nebraska City, Auburn and Falls City, Nebraska; 
Atchison, Washington and C/oncordia, Kansas; St. Joseph, Missouri. 

This company has about recovered from the greatest single railroad strike the 
world ever saw, and is fast regaining its former prestige in the passenger line. 
The B. & M. have always been in the front rank when convenience and comfort of 
passengers have been considered, and their present equipment is unsurpas'^ed iu 
the land. 



APPENDIX. 



O 




APPENDIX. 



TABLE OF RAILROAD MILEAGE AND TRAFFIC OF THE "GREAT WEST." 



1887. 
STATES. 


Miles 

of 
Road. 


Passengers 
carried. 


Passengers 

carried 

one mile. 


Freight, 

tons, 
handled. 


Freight tons. 
One Mile. 


Louisiana 

Missouri 


1,754.37 1,783,288 | 57,0.5.3,992 
7,818.58 8,800,717 3.'^-2.107.1(ir> 


2.877,414 

17,238,514 

1,262,177 

4,501,387 

7,8a3,166 

2,764,207 

298,000 

4,501,098 

13,400,905 

5,234,250 

5,000,000 

510,000 

750,000 

340,705 

732,005 

9,281,279 

396,237 

51,624 

1,065,200 


253,549.754 
2,316,443,616 


Arkansas 

Texas 


2,208 814,310 

7,2:34 2,549,832 

8,404.33 5.23r)..381 


34,058,459 

141,748,562 

284,406,727 

74,959,240 

56,607,753 

61,895,060 

326,377,496 

222,060,375 

0,720 

580,000 

3,500,000 

650,000 

.36,618,895 

559,744,127 

2,300,000 

295,000 

27,565,000 


194,.334.168 
743,744,946 


Kansas 


1.337,-399.001 


C!olorado . . .... 

New Mexico 

Iowa 


3,013.52 

1,219 

7,907 

8,446.79 

3,703 

3,555 

83:130 

1,062 

923 

1,519.04 

4,265.00 

954 

988 

1,307.98 

811 

422 


914,988 
114,998 

1,795,298 

8,510,387 

2,770,664 

672 

325,000 

100,000 

32,240 

499,952 

15,348,760 

80,000 

12,953 

495,000 


313,687,230 
151,521,042 
367,319,282 


Minnesota 

Nebraska 

Dakota 


2,221,070,520 
1,191,231,910 
1,000,000,000 


Wyoming 

Montana 

Washington 

Oregon 


145,619,000 

22,298.700 

6,814,100 

143,459,490 


California 

Nevada 


2,254,213,458 
10,250,000 


Arizona 


1,896,800 


Utah 


119,250,000 


Idaho . . 




Indian Territory. 








Totals 


68,348.19 


50,175,489 


2,223,136,571 


78,038,168 


12,794.098,987 







We will not vouch for the accuracy of the above table owing to the many 
errors we have detected therein. It is just as we take it from "Poor's Manual of 
Railroads, except Dakota, and that we estimated. The table is approximately 
correct, though not absolutely. Idaho and Indian Territory are each omitted in 
estimates of freight and passenger business ; Oregon, Washington, Nevada and 
Arizona are manifestly much under-rated. We took the liberty of correcting Mr. Poor 
on the railroad mileage of New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Dakota^ 
Montana, Washington, Nevada, Idaho and Arizona. 

The table is up to July 1st, 1887, only; since that time nearly 20,000 miles of 
railway have been constructed in the United States, nearly all of which is credited 
to the territory west of the Mississippi River, and brings the grand total of railway 
mileage of the Great West to approximately 85,000 miles, or within a very small 
amount of being one -half of the railway mileage of the United States. More than 
that of Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, France, and Russia combined, and 
nearly as much as all of Europe combined. Is it any vonder, then, that we oall the 
Great West -'A Vast Empire?" 



APPENDIX. XXXI 

ST. LOUIS & SAN FRANCISCO RAILWAY COMPANY. 

The St. Louis & San Francisco Railway includes main line and fifteen branches, 
covering 1,321.16 miles of road, extending from St. Louis, through Missouri into 
Kansas, Arkansas, Texas and the Indian Territory. 

This company purchased the property of the Atlantic & Pacific Railway Com- 
pany, sold under foreclosure, September 8th, 1876. In connection with the Atchison, 
Topeka & Santa Fe this company controls the Atlantic & Pacific, and the Wichita 
& Western Railways. This company is the largest owner of the bridge across the 
Arkansas River at Van Buren, bonded for $474,000. January 30th, 1888, this com- 
pany took possession, under lease, of the Kansas Midland, 107.20 miles, between 
Wichita and Ellsworth, Kansas. 

The company owns 189 locomotives, 135 passenger and express carj, and 6,285 
freight cars. Business for 1887 was as follows: carried 859,703 passengers, or 49,- 
516,497 passengers one mile. Freight moved, 1,497,841 tons, or 309,496,860 tons one 
mile. This line has, ever since its organization, gradually increased its mileage and 
equipment, until to-day it ranks well up with its older competitors, and is a very 
popular line with passengers and shippers. 



NORTHERN PACIFIC RAILWAY. « 

This magnificent system of railway has grown up since 1870, at which time the 
first spike was driven by Governor R. D. Rice, at a place in Carleton County, Minne- 
sota, now known as Northern Pacific Junction. This system includes 3,411.27 miles 
exclusive of sidings, making direct connection with each of the following splendid 
commercial cities: Ashland and Superior, in Wisconsin; Duluth, St. Paul and Min- 
neapolis, Minnesota; Winnipeg, Manitoba, Grand Forks, Fargo and Bismark, in 
Dakota; Helena and Butte City, in Montana; Spokane Falls, Seattle and Tacoma, 
in Washington, and Portland, Oregon. 

This company handled, in 1888, 2,597,897 tons of freight, or 704,772,506 tons one 
mile, using freight cars equalling 108,788,322 moved one mile. Passenger coaches 
20,100,150, moved one mile; passengers carried, 1,343,737, or 159,483,895 one mile. 
The equipment of this line is first-class in every particular, and consists of 390 loco- 
motives, 186 passenger coaches, 9,617 freight cars. 

This road intersects only two important systems throughout its entire course — 
the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba system, and the Union Pacific system; and 
practically controls a larger agricultural region than any other two or three railway 
systems in America combined. It passes through the lumber section of Minnesota, 
the farming section of Dakota, the grazing and mineral sections of Montana, the 
mineral section of Idaho, and the mineral and farming sections of Washington and 
Oregon. It has 27 branch lines shooting off from the main line of the road, at con- 
venient points like branches are sent out from the main trunk of a tree, to feed and 
support the parent stem, this being as essential for the success of a road as for the 
life of a tree. 

The Northern Pacific has been ably and conservatively managed during the 
past few years, as is evinced by the splendid financial condition of the road. The 
track is in good, safe condition, and rarely do we hear of an accident to a passenger 
train. 

In 1887 this line was first opened for through travel without transfer, and the 
large number of passengers carried is evidence of its growing to be the popular 
summer route to and from the Pacific Coast. One feature alone will cause thou- 
sands to choose this route, viz: the branch line to the Yellowstone Park, which 
leaves the main line at Livingston and terminates at the Park limits. 



XXXII APPENDIX. 



THE CHICABO AND NORTHWESTERN 

RAILWAY SYSTEM. 



C!o-ordinate with the growth of the Great West, and generally in advance of 
permanent population, has been the progress of the great highways, among which 
stands the Chicago & Northwestern, justly pre-eminent as the 

PIONEER ROUTE. 

The Chicago & Northwestern was first to establish through service between 
Chicago and the Pacific Coast; first to place in Western service the vestibule cars 
now 80 universally popular among long distance travelers; first to establish a solid 
vestibule service between Chicago and Denver; first to inaugurate through dining 
car service between the Rocky Mountains and the Great Lakes; in short, the first 
to recognize and adopt every modern improvement and device that will add to the 
traveler's comfort and enhance the pleasure of a journey. 

The people of the Great West, remote from Eastern friends and, perhaps, 
childhood's home, may comfortably, and even luxuriously, revisit old scenes and 
renew old associations through the medium of the generous facilities offered by 
this enterprising modern railway. 

A few years since the journey was a thing to be dreaded, a task to be performed 
only when absolutely necessary; time was long, hanging heavily on the traveler's 
hands, and at the end of the pilgrimage the sufferer worn, tired and exhausted. 
All this has been changed like magic, by the genius of man and the keen enter- 
prise of the railway company. No longer are there more thorns than roses in a 
railway experience, but, like the flight of an eagle, swift, sure and steady, the 
modern palace on wheels glides across prairie, meadow and stream, annihilating 
time and carrying in its bosom all the comforts of home and luxuries of wealth. 
The destination reached, finds the contented traveler better, both physically and 
mentally, than when starting; old friends are greeted with warmer affection; 
familiar localities meet the eye with keener interest; the trip has been a draught of 
elixir, arousing new energies and giving new life. 

The Chicago & Northwestern has been foremost of all in bringing about this 
happy change; its management has been ever in the van in the effort te give the 
public immediate advantage of every advance made in the direction of railway im- 
provement; its aim is to lead all others, and its constant and growing popularity 
attests its success. 

To this great railway no email part of the credit of developing the Great West 
is due; its lines have been pushed steadily forward into unoccupied territory, thus 
opening new fields constantly and enabling the tide of emigration to flow into sec- 
tions that would otherwise have lain dormant for years. The sagacity of this 
policy to-day stands revealed, and enables the Chicago & Northwestern Railway to 
safely rely upon the intention of the people to patronize this early and constant 
friend of the Great West. 



WHY SHOULD I GO TO MONTANA ? 



Great Reservation.— Because 18,000,000 acres of free Government land, 
with a delightful climate, and equally sviited for general farming and stock raising, 
have just been opened to the home seeker, in the Milk River Valley, and i;iear 
Benton and Great Falls. 

Stock Raising.— Because the favorable climate and superior grasses of 
Montana make it the natural home of horses, cattle, sheep and other domestic 
animals; and because winter feeding is not required, as stock grazes at large the 
year round. 

General Farming. — Because a rich soil and abundant summer rains pro- 
duce wheat, oats, rye, barley and the grasses and vegetables of a quality, size and 
yield unsurpassed. 

Mining.— Because Montana produces more of the precious metals than any 
other state or territory, and abundant opportunities remain to secure valuable 
projjerties at nominal cost. 

Immigration. — Because the Great Reservation is the meeting point of 
settlers from the Pacific Coast and from the Eastern States, and is the only exten- 
sive tract of good land left suitable for settlement. 

Business. — Because the rapidly growing towns along the St. Paul, Minne- 
apolis & Manitoba Railway offer splendid opportunities to engage in business. 

Manufacturer. — Because the 1,000,000 horse-power at Great Falls, the 
extensive coal veins, the wool, mineral and grain raising resources of Montana offer 
exceptional opportunities to the manufacturer. 

Tourists. — Because the canon of the Gates of the Mountains, the Great Falls 
of the Missouri, the Giant Fountain and Continental Divide offer the most subliiiie 
and diversified scenery to be found on the Continent. Take a summer tour. 

Why Travel by tine St. P., M. & M. ?— Because only by it can you 
travel through the largest body of free land left for settlement. Because it reaches 
the Great Falls, with the largest water-power on the Continent. Because it reaches 
Helena, the richest city of its size in the world; and because it is the shortest and 
best route to Butte, the largest mining camp on earth. Special tourists' and land- 
seekers' rates. Daily trains through solid to Montana. Choice of three routes to the 
Pacific Coast. Find out all about it by writing for "The Great Reservation, and 
"Tourists' Summer Guide. 

For further information, rates, maps, etc., apply to F. I. WHITNEY, G. P. & T. 
A., St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway, St. Paul, Minn. 



Denver £ Rio Grande 



EXPRESS. 







MONEY OEDEES 

Payable at over 13,000 places in United States and 
Canada, and the principal cities of Europe. 



RATES FOR DOMESTIC ORDERS: 

Not over $5, - ■ 5 cents. 

Over $5 to $10, - 8 cents. 

Over $10 to $20, - 10 cents. 

Over $20 to $30, - - 15 cents. 



RATES FOR FOREIGN ORDERS: 

Not over $10, - - 10 cents. 
Not over $20, - 18 cents. 

Not over $30, - - 25 cents. 



G. W. KRAMER. Manager. 



/iniKU EDITION. JULYI889. - 




ENTERED AT DENVER POST OFFICE AS SECOND C.LA'iP, MATTER 



a 




n 



n 



rnn n 



Chicago, Kansas & Nebraska R'y, 

(Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R'y Co., Lessees.) 

Solid Vestibule Trains 



^ 



FREE RECLINING CHAIR CARS 

BETWEEN 

Chicago and Denver, Colorado Springs and Paeblo, 

VI.\ KANS.IS CITY AND ST. JOSEPH, 

WITHOUT CHANGE OF CARS. 



Union Depots at all terminal points, and close connections East 
Bound, for St. Louis and all points East and South, and West Bound 
for Salt Lake City, San Francisco, and all Pacific Coast Points. 

For Tickets, Maps, Folders, or any desired information, apply to 
your nearest ticket agent, or address 

JOHN SEBASTIAN, 
General Ticket and Passenger Agent, 
G. F. LEE, Topeka, Kansas. 

Genl. Agent Pass. Dept. 

Denver, Colorado. 



\ 



L. C. Bindery 
1904 



